Best Laid Plans
by Firebreath Fishslap
Summary: Tokyo's been returned to normal, and things seem to be normal for the young King of Bel and his friends. However, it is soon clear that things aren't as normal as they wish it could be... Devil Survivor fic, possible MCxYuzu later on.
1. Beginning

A/N: Occurs after the end of the Gin Route in Devil Survivor. Basically, the route where you get rid of all the demons and return Tokyo to normal.

Keiichi Kimura is the name I'm using for the main character here. It TECHNICALLY doesn't fit in the spaces for your name in game, but it works here and SO IT SHALL BE USED.

* * *

The sun was shining bright over Tokyo. The streets weren't… filled, per say with people, but this was only due to how early it was that morning. Everyone was going about their business, the salarymen heading to work, high school students like Keiichi Kimura heading to school. A few birds flew by, accenting the morning with their song. On days like this, it was almost hard to remember that only a couple months ago, this entire area had been locked down.

There were still a few reminders of the Lockdown, an old Shomonkai uniform here, a makeshift grave there, but almost everyone had accepted the explanation the government had given. Hallucinogenic poisonous gases had caused the initial lockdown, and the hallucinations caused by the gas caused people to believe they were being attacked by demons. The people the Special Defense Force had killed had gone insane from the gas and the SDF had just been defending themselves in the only way they could considering the circumstances. Of course there were people who didn't buy this explanation, but no one could say what they really thought without being ostracized as a conspiracy theorist or a loony. After all, demons couldn't really exist, right?

Keiichi reached into his pocket and closed his hand around the COMP inside. The device was practically useless now. Couldn't even connect to the internet, could only mail COMPs on the same specialized network as it. There were a few special programs, but none of them worked anymore. It always loaded up an error message when one tried to access them now. Keiichi had never gotten another COMP after the Lockdown. He was fine with just his cell phone, and he had an emotional connection to this particular COMP. This COMP had gotten him through the Lockdown, and had saved his life several times.

"Yo, K1!"

Keiichi nearly tripped as he heard someone call his nickname. He turned and smiled.

"Morning, Atsuro."

A boy wearing a white hat and carrying an orange bag over his shoulder skidded to a stop next to Keiichi. He groaned.

"You didn't wait up for me again! You've gotten really bad about that," Atsuro complained. Keiichi pointed behind Atsuro.

"Well, _someone_ didn't wait up for Yuzu."

A girl wearing a pink bandanna was running down the sidewalk, a piece of toast in her mouth. She finally caught up with the two and stopped to catch her breath. Atsuro gave a wide grin at Yuzu.

"Hey, Yoohoo! I thought you'd never show up!"

"Stop calling me that! It's Yu-Zu! Not Yoohoo!" Atsuro opened his mouth again, but Yuzu cut him off again. "And it's not 'Sodeko' either! _Or_ Frou-Frou!"

"Whatever you say, _Yoohoo."_

Keiichi gave a smile as Yuzu continued to pout at Atsuro. Atsuro continued to bounce various taunts off of Yuzu, which only made her madder. This was the way Keiichi liked to see his friends, not the various stages of depression they'd gone through after the Lockdown. They'd been happy, but just the shock of everything that had happened had finally gotten to everyone at that point. Keiichi hadn't talked to anyone he'd met during the Lockdown in a long time. Midori had gone back to her home, and Keisuke went to a different school than Keiichi, Yuzu, and Atsuro. Keiichi couldn't exactly go hang out at Gin's bar, he was underage, after all, and if he remembered right, Haru was on tour right now anyways. Kaido was still the leader of the Shibuya Daemons, and Keiichi didn't mess around with gangs if he could help it. Amane had been taken into protective custody after the Lockdown's end. From what Keiichi had heard, she was now staying with her mother, who had left Amane's father when some of the Shomonkai's activities got particularly fanatical. She'd transferred back into their school last week, but Keiichi rarely saw her, since she was only in her first year of high school.

Keiichi hadn't talked to Naoya in weeks. Before the Lockdown, they'd stayed in constant contact. Keiichi had practically worshipped the ground his cousin worshipped, even. But some of the things Naoya had said… Things about the nature of God, about the ordeals, and using the power of the Throne of Bel to wage war against Him. He'd nearly gone along with it. If it would end the ordeals for good, then he'd even sacrifice his own humanity. It had been Gin and his wish to return Tokyo to normal that had snapped Keiichi out of the idea. And at the end of things, Haru, Keiichi, Aya's song, and the Throne of Bel all together had returned Tokyo to normal. Things _were_ normal, which was actually a bit surprising. The only thing that wasn't was Keiichi's continued strained relationship with Naoya.

"Arrg! I don't have time for you! We're going to be so late for school if you two don't stop it!" Yuzu complained. Keiichi looked a bit startled at that.

"Hey, leave me out of this," Keiichi said. He started walking down the sidewalk, prompting Yuzu and Atsuro to follow after him. Yuzu smiled and sped up a bit to catch up with Keiichi.

"You seem happier for some reason," Yuzu said. Keiichi blinked.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You've been kind of depressed since the Lockdown," Yuzu said. Keiichi gave a couple surprised blinks. Yuzu _never_ talked about the Lockdown. It was really a taboo subject among the three of them. Keiichi laughed and looked away.

"Alright, who are you and where did you put Yuzu?" Keiichi asked. Yuzu got a bit huffy at that.

"I'm serious! Geez!" Yuzu frowned and started walking a bit faster. Keiichi continued to smile, though. He _was_ feeling a little happier for some reason today. He wasn't quite sure why, though. Maybe he was just happy to be alive. The lack of nightmares the previous night had probably contributed a bit, too. There were few nights Keiichi _didn't_ dream of the Lockdown, and typically when he wasn't dreaming of the Lockdown, he was having bizarre nightmares about deserts and sheep. Keiichi hadn't even seen a sheep since he was a little kid and he barely remembered that visit to that stupid petting zoo anyways. He was considering asking Naoya about it, but after seeing the side of his cousin he had during the Lockdown… He shook that thought out of his head. Maybe he did need to visit Naoya again. It had been way too long since they'd even talked.

"It's kind of chilly out today," Atsuro observed.

"Ugh, don't remind me. I can't _wait_ until we can change into our winter uniforms," Yuzu complained. Keiichi nodded in agreement.

The three of them reached the school gate quickly enough. For all Yuzu had worried about in regards to being late, they really hadn't needed to worry. They weren't even close to being late. A bit of distinctive purple hair to Keiichi's right made him turn and smile.

"Morning, Amane-chan," Keiichi called. Amane turned toward him. She seemed a little startled that Keiichi had noticed her. She was standing by the gate, like she was waiting for someone.

"G-Good morning, Kimura-san," Amane said. She looked away from Keiichi, and seemed to be hiding her face before she finally ran off toward the school.

"Woah, what was _that_ about?" Atsuro asked. Keiichi shook his head.

"Dunno."

"Think she might have a bit of a crush on you?" Atsuro elbowed Keiichi in the arm and gave a knowing smirk. Keiichi flushed red.

"Wh-What? No way! Besides, I don't like her like that, I like Yu—" Keiichi turned an even brighter red and looked away. Yuzu's face was an identical color to Keiichi's, which only made Atsuro's grin widen.

"Yeah? Yu who?"

"C-Come on, Atsuro! Don't even joke about stuff like that!" Yuzu said. "L-Let's go, you know Ms. Tenou doesn't like it when we're late for homeroom."

Atsuro only grinned even wider. Keiichi continued to look away from the two of them and started briskly walking toward the front doors of the school, his face still a rather bright shade of red. Okay, so maybe he had a tiny crush on Yuzu. Just an itsy bitsy one. It wasn't like he was in love with her or anything, right? He liked her, but he didn't like her _that_ much. Just as, like, a friend.

_Dammit Atsuro,_ Keiichi thought to himself as he stepped inside the entrance. He was already taking off his outdoor shoes as he made his way over to his shoe locker. Keiichi frowned as he saw what was sitting inside, and pulled out the little bit of paper. The message written on it was written in neat, elegant kana, which contrasted pretty well with anyone in Keiichi's group of friends.

"What's that?" Yuzu asked. Keiichi looked back toward her before looking back down at the note.

"It's from Amane-chan," Keiichi said. "She wants me to eat lunch with her on the roof today."

"Woah!" Atsuro blinked. "Looks like Amane really _does_ have a thing for you!"

Keiichi slipped the note into his pocket. "It's not like that… we haven't really talked since she came back to school. She probably just wants to talk to me, that's all…"

"K1's in denial," Atsuro said with a bit of a sing-song voice. Yuzu looked over at Atsuro and glared at him before grabbing him by the strap of his bag and starting to drag him off. Keiichi gave a bit of an exasperated look toward the two of them before starting to walk after them, the note still on his mind. Why _did_ Amane want to see him? It wouldn't have bothered him so much if it weren't for how just out of nowhere this was. Other than small greetings and such in the hallway, the two of them really never spoke. He shrugged and continued walking after Yuzu and Atsuro, shaking his head at the spat Yuzu was having over Atsuro's reactions. Atsuro always knew which buttons to press with Yuzu, and it showed.

* * *

"You're not eating with us today?"

Keiichi looked over at Yuzu as she asked her question.

"Yeah, Amane-chan wanted me to have lunch with her today," Keiichi said. "That's what that note was about earlier."

"O-Oh, right…"

"That's not a problem, is it?"

"N-nah, not at all," Yuzu grinned. "I'll see you after lunch."

"Okay." Keiichi walked out the door and closed it behind him. Yuzu leaned back in her seat and put her head in one hand. Atsuro sighed and walked over to her.

"You alright?" Atsuro asked. Yuzu looked up at Atsuro and looked back down at her desk. She nodded. Atsuro frowned and sat down next to her in Keiichi's normal seat. He frowned at Yuzu, and then pulled open her lunch and pulled out a pair of chopsticks before stealing one of the fried eggs inside.

"Egg's a bit bland today, Yoohoo," Atsuro commented. Yuzu blinked and looked down at her food before looking back at Atsuro. Her expression very quickly shifted to pissed as she reached to grab the chopsticks away from him.

"Hey! You've got your own lunch! Don't steal my food!" She paused as something seemed to process for her, and blurted out an additional statement. "A-and stop calling me Yoohoo!"

"Haha! Come on, Yoohoo! You could lose a few pounds off the front anyways!"

"Arrrrg! I'm so going to get you!"

Keiichi found Amane easily enough. She was sitting in a place that put her well apart from any other students who decided to lunch up there. There was an unopened bento box sitting next to her. Keiichi walked over to the bench and sat down next to Amane, resting his own bento on his legs. Amane looked up at Keiichi as he sat down and then went back to staring at her feet. She stayed quiet for a few moments with a guilty expression on her face. Keiichi was halfway through his bento before he looked over at Amane and realized that she still wasn't talking or eating. Finally, Keiichi put his lunch to the side and turned to face her.

"Are you alright?" Keiichi asked. Amane shook her head and looked over toward Keiichi. Her expression was more serious now.

"I am sorry for worrying you. I was thinking," Amane stated. She smoothed out her skirt and turned her upper body so she was facing Keiichi. Keiichi placed his bento to the side as Amane continued to speak. "I called you up here for a reason. There are matters that must be discussed regarding the Lockdown. You are aware that every event in the Lockdown actually happened and is not a hallucination, correct?"

"Sometimes I think I'm the only person who actually does believe that."

"That will make this go much faster, then. As you know, I have been able to hear the voices of both angels and demons since I was a young child. It was for this reason my father chose me as the Shomonkai's maiden and I was able to hear the news of the ordeal through Remiel. Because you removed the demons from the human world and the angels left our world, I have not heard anything. However, very recently, I began hearing the voices of several of the lower ranking angels. The angels… are not pleased with how you ended the ordeal."

Keiichi's eyes widened. "But you said God would support any path that I took! I used the power of the Throne to send all of the demons back to their realm and return Tokyo to normal! Why are the angels still mad at me?"

Amane flinched at Keiichi's words. "Quiet down, Kimura-san." Keiichi blinked and looked around at the various people staring at him and Amane. He unclenched his fists and relaxed. He hadn't even realized he was leaning forward toward Amane the way he had been.

"Sorry."

"As I was saying, the angels are not pleased with how you handled the Lockdown. The Lockdown was only instated because God chose to give humanity a second chance after it sinned and summoned demons. Most angels were of the opinion that God should have immediately taken away humanity's free well, but instead He chose to give humanity a seven day grace period to allow them to remove the demons from the Lockdown. As the Human Bel, you were the only one who could remove the demons from the human world. God wished for you to become enlightened and become the Messiah, as did the angels, but because you chose to return Tokyo to its previous state instead, the angels feel that humanity's situation will only continue to deteriorate and they will become more sinful."

Amane sighed. "The angels are also afraid of your power as the King of Bel. You sealed your powers of Bel away after closing the gate and returning Tokyo to normal, but the power still remains dormant inside you. The angels worry that a weak human mind will not be able to resist the temptation of such strong demonic power and that you will eventually succumb to the power of Bel sleeping within you. Many angels wish you dead so that the power of Bel finally can disappear for good."

Keiichi looked down as Amane spoke. Finally, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his white and black COMP. "I got a warning about that about a week ago from someone called 'M'. It told me… that if I gave in to the temptation of that power, they'd smite me and humanity would lose its free will." That last part hadn't been directly stated, but Keiichi had caught the implication well enough from the warning "M" had sent. Amane looked away before continuing on.

"The angels are not the only thing I called you here to talk about," Amane said softly. Keiichi looked toward her again. Amane seemed even more hesitant as she went on. "I came to talk about the Shomonkai. Though the Shomonkai officially disbanded after the end of the lockdown after the… death of its founder, more than a few of the old members are still hanging onto their beliefs." She bit her lip and hesitated for more than a few moments before speaking again. "…I am… not entirely sure how they discovered this, but… a group of believers have discovered that a human killed Belberith and absorbed his power."

At those words, all color drained from Keiichi's face. He'd thought no one knew about that fact. After the Lockdown, he'd realized just how much of a good thing it was that he'd knocked out all of the Shomonkai cultists that had been guarding Belberith on top of the Hills building before he actually absorbed Belberith's power. Keiichi had realized that some Shomonkai members were still following their founder's teachings even though Belberith was dead and the ordeal was over. If any of them realized who he was and what he'd done to Belberith it was possible he'd be in danger.

"…Do… any of them know that it was me?" Keiichi asked in a low voice. Amane slowly shook her head. She was gripping the hem of her skirt tightly and looked close to tears. Amane squeezed her eyes shut before reaching out and grasping Keiichi's hand.

"Please. Whatever happens, don't give in to your demonic nature," Amane whispered. "The ordeal did not go the way the angels wanted it to, so now they are looking for any excuse to take humanity's free will away. The fate of our world rests on whether you can control the powers of Bel or not."

Keiichi reached over and placed his hand on top of Amane's trembling one. She looked up at Keiichi's face. There was a kind of fear in her eyes Keiichi recognized. He gave a reassuring smile toward Amane.

"It'll be okay," Keiichi said. "I wasn't planning on using them for anything anyways. And if I'm careful, I won't have to worry about the Shomonkai, right?"

Amane gave a small nod. She didn't seem very convinced. Keiichi looked down at the mp3 player clipped to his shirt and pulled it off to check the time. Lunch was nearly over. "We should probably head back to class. I'll see you later, okay?" Keiichi picked up his unfinished bento and headed for the stairway back downstairs. Amane remained on the bench, only getting up after Keiichi was out of sight.

* * *

"….You wanna fight that way? Well, your umeboshi is mine!"

"What? No way! Give it back!"

Keiichi walked in on Yuzu and Atsuro having what seemed a lot like a chopsticks battle. It really wasn't that far off, actually. Both Yuzu and Atsuro had a death grip on a piece of pickled fruit. Between them were two empty bento boxes. Keiichi groaned and slid his halfway finished lunch in between the two of them. Atsuro turned to notice Keiichi first, which caused him to show enough momentary weakness for Yuzu to snatch away the umeboshi. Atsuro blinked and looked between his chopsticks and Yuzu.

"Hey! I had dibs on that umeboshi!" Atsuro shot Yuzu a glare before looking toward Keiichi. "You're back sooner than I thought you'd be."

"I don't know what you're talking about, lunch is nearly over," Keiichi said as he sat down in his seat next to Yuzu. "You guys can have that. I'm not that hungry anyways."

Yuzu pulled the top off and smiled. "Oooh, sushizume! Thanks, K1!"

K1 smiled. "No problem, Yuzu."

Atsuro looked over at the bento. "Sushizume, huh? Somehow I expected something more elaborate from you."

"Like _what?_"

"I dunno, just something more than just sushi. Speaking of which… ha!" Atsuro very quickly reached and snatched up a piece of tuna Yuzu had been reaching for. Yuzu gasped and rounded on Atsuro.

"Hey, that was mine!" Yuzu complained.

"You snooze, you lose, Yoohoo!"

"Aaarrg! Fine! Then this squilla is mine—" Yuzu gasped as the shrimp was snatched up before she could even reach for it. She turned and gaped at Keiichi.

"You know this really quite good," Keiichi said.

"B-But you just said you weren't hungry!" Yuzu looked back toward the bento box. "Aaaugh! Not fair, you two!"

Keiichi laughed and let Atsuro and Yuzu go at the rest of the bento's contents on their own. Honestly, he really wasn't sure how the heck this turned into a food war, but Yuzu and Atsuro sure were amusing to watch.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without incident. While the others were taking notes, Keiichi was thinking about what Amane had said, which also meant he took absolutely no notes on a subject that was very likely going to be on the end of term exams. Honestly, he was a little bothered by what she'd said. Why had she taken this long to bring it up if it was so important? Was it only because he was in immediate danger? Or was there something else going on…?

In the end, Keiichi decided he needed to do something he hadn't done in a while. He couldn't talk to Yuzu and Atsuro about it. He didn't need to unnecessarily worry his friends like this. Keiichi already could tell that Yuzu at the very least tried to pretend the government's explanation for the Lockdown was right, even though she'd been there when he'd summoned Babel. He couldn't go to his parents, either. They didn't even _know_ about the demons. Amane had been close to tears after that conversation, he couldn't talk to her further about that. This only left one option left.

Maybe he had been being rude to Naoya by avoiding him like this. He could see where Naoya had been coming from with the war against God thing, but Keiichi didn't want to do that. He wasn't Christian by any means, but the Lockdown had proved to him that God existed. Honestly, Keiichi feared a world without a God. It almost seemed likely to him that the world would just collapse in on itself if it lacked an all-powerful God of some sort.

He looked up as he approached the apartments Naoya lived in. He'd decided not to walk home with Atsuro and Yuzu like he usually did today. Their usual route didn't pass by Naoya's apartment, and if they came with him, they would want to get in on this conversation. This was just between Naoya and him. Keiichi _knew_ Atsuro and Yuzu would make a big deal about this, and it wouldn't help things between Naoya and him any more if they made a big deal about it.

Keiichi walked up to Naoya's door. He looked down at the doorknob. While it would be more polite to knock, unless Naoya wasn't busy, which was almost never, he wouldn't come to the door. Keiichi did a couple test turns of the doorknob and frowned when he saw it was unlocked. He sighed and pushed the door open.

"Naoya, you left the door unlocked again," Keiichi called into the apartment. He didn't have to go very far to find his cousin; he was right there, taping up the top of a large box. At this moment, Keiichi noted very similar boxes all around the apartment. He looked back toward Naoya, who had finished taping the top of the box and was looking toward Keiichi. Appearance wise, he certainly hadn't changed. His hair was still as stringy and unkempt looking as ever, and he was still wearing that handmade haori that looked like something from out of the Matrix. The one thing that had changed was the expression Naoya was regarding him with. There was an odd amount of respect in his eyes now. It didn't take much for Keiichi to figure out _why_ that was so.

"You're moving?" Keiichi asked quietly.

"I've been offered a job I can't refuse," Naoya said rather simply. "Unfortunately, the specifics of the job and the location of it mean that I have to move away."

Keiichi clenched his fists. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did say it was short notice," Naoya said. "I would have preferred to stay here, but as the maker of the summoning program, I literally could not refuse." He shrugged. "Ah well. Such is politics."

Keiichi's voice was low again as he spoke. "…The government is making you move?"

"The government doesn't want me running free, especially since part of the fault of the Lockdown can be placed on my shoulders, so they're forcing me to move to a place they can keep me on a shorter leash."

"Th-That's crazy! How can they do that? Where can they even move you, you already live in Tokyo?" Keiichi was absolutely outraged. That had to be against some kind of law. They just couldn't _do that._ Not to Naoya.

"Our government throws out any sense of sanity when demons are involved." Naoya sighed and looked over toward Keiichi, and their eyes met. Keiichi flinched at the look on Naoya's face, and he felt a chill go down his spine as his cousin spoke. "Of course, if you really don't want me to move that badly, you possess the power to stop them."

There was silence for several moments after Naoya said that. Keiichi seemed to be trying to find words, but he couldn't think of a valid answer to that. It was mainly the way Naoya had just come out and said it. No, it wasn't just that. It was the fact that Naoya was practically telling him to use those dormant powers to stop him from being forced to "move" like that. He had to know Keiichi couldn't do that. He _had_ to know the angels and Amane had told him if he did that, he'd be killed. Naoya always knew these things without being told. And yet Naoya had _still_ come out and said that. It was Naoya who broke the silence when Keiichi didn't respond for nearly two minutes straight.

"In any case, you didn't come here to hear me preach about how I believe you should use your power, did you?" Naoya said. His expression softened just a bit, so that it looked more like the expression a concerned older brother would use. "What's on your mind? You seem bothered about something."

Keiichi let out a breath he hadn't even been aware he was holding. He nodded. "Y-Yeah, I spoke to Amane today. She said the angels and _the Shomonkai_ are pissed at me."

Naoya didn't seem very surprised by Keiichi's words. Keiichi hadn't expected him to be. Hardly anything surprised Naoya in Keiichi's experience.

"It would seem God can't reign in his own servants," Naoya said. The way he spoke it was like he was stating an obvious fact. Keiichi had honestly figured that Naoya already knew about that part. "There has been a large level of Shomonkai activity in the city lately, despite police actions against them. I suppose the angels informed them about you, though they don't know your exact identity yet. I doubt the angels actually informed the Shomonkai of the whole situation, either, and instead used their blind worship of Belberith to manipulate them over to their side."

Keiichi noted how open with this information Naoya was being. Considering how Naoya was, he usually wasn't this open with things, even when it was semi-important info. So what he was telling him right now had to be extremely important to his survival…

"You haven't been sleeping well, have you?"

Keiichi blinked at the sudden topic change. "I-Is it that obvious?"

"I have a hard time believing that anyone could miss those bags under your eyes."

Keiichi sighed and turned away as he began to explain. "Yeah… I've been having nightmares almost every night. They're usually about the Lockdown, but sometimes they're different… I've been having this weird recurring one about sheep lately."

"…"

Keiichi looked toward Naoya and his eyes widened. Naoya actually looked _angry._

"Naoya?"

"Explain the dream. In detail."

Now Keiichi was even more confused and worried. What was so important about that dream to Naoya? Keiichi thought back, but he couldn't think of anything that would cause that reaction from his cousin. Maybe if the dream had been related to God or something, but just… sheep?

"In the dream… I'm standing in a field. There's a bunch of sheep, and they're all staring at me. Then I hear a sort of… thwack noise, and something falls at my feet. And when I look down, I see myself, lying there, bleeding to death. And that's when I wake up."

Naoya clenched his hands into fists and then looked away from Keiichi. He was suddenly very busy with packing, and it was clear to Keiichi he was very pissed off.

"Go home, Keiichi."

"What?"

"It's late. You need to go home."

And suddenly, before Keiichi could object, Naoya grabbed Keiichi's arm and pushed him out the door. There was a click as the door locked behind Keiichi. Keiichi ran back over to the door and started banging on it.

"Hey! Naoya, what the hell is wrong with you? Don't pull this on me now! Dammit, Naoya!" Keiichi yelled. Naoya was silent on the other side of the door. Keiichi stepped away from the door and gave it a rather strong glare. "What the hell's your problem today?" Finally, Keiichi headed away from the door and down the hallway. He walked away from the apartments in a bit of a huff. Well, _that_ hadn't gone well. He should have expected it. They weren't as close as they once were, and even then, Naoya got in these moods sometimes. He'd be fine by tomorrow; he could see him then. But did he really want to talk to Naoya after how well this conversation had gone…?

A beep on Keiichi's phone caught his attention. He blinked and pulled it out of his pocket. He smiled as he saw who the text was from.

-From: Yuzu 3

-u wanna go 2 do karaoke 2nite?

Keiichi immediately started writing out a reply. Karaoke would be _perfect_. The implications of going out to karaoke on a night like this were not lost on him, but it was a Saturday night. He didn't have to worry about school in the morning.

-Reply:

-sure. i need to go change out of my uniform first but i'll see you there

And with that, Keiichi closed his phone and continued on the road back to his house. He was in a much better mood now. Karaoke together with Yuzu… he couldn't wait. Though Atsuro would probably end up tagging along anyways. Man, he'd never work up the courage to ask Yuzu out at this rate…

* * *

_Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit __**dammit.**_

Naoya punched a wall behind him. He should have expected this to happen. He had _known_ this would happen. But in all of his plans, when this happened, he had been the one with his brother. He knew the Throne would bring out the memories of Abel again. It had been something he'd expected from the beginning. _Abel_ was the Bel Demon, not the personality calling itself Keiichi. As Abel woke up again, Keiichi would gain the memories of his past life.

The difference between now and all of those plans were that in all of Naoya's plans, he was able to be there for his brother. He needed to be there when Keiichi realized who exactly had killed him in the past. To _comfort_ him. To let him realize that even though he'd killed him in the past, he was still the same _nii-chan_ he'd had all his life, and when the hatred that drove all of the Bels to hate God finally drove him to war against his Creator, that the same big brother could be there with him. But a schism that Naoya hadn't expected had occurred between him and Keiichi. Maybe it was his own fault. Maybe he shouldn't have been so strong about pulling Keiichi toward that option.

He took a few breaths. He needed to calm down. He hadn't failed. The memories were returning, his plan hadn't gone off track. It didn't matter in the long run if he lost the "Keiichi" in Abel. It was just another meaningless human life. Only his own life, corrupting God's favorite child, and killing God mattered. If he failed in this life, he only had to wait for his next incarnation. Nothing had gone wrong. With Abel on the throne, it was only a matter of time now.

Everything was going according to plan.


	2. Kidnapping

A/N: Something I forgot to clarify in last chapter's A/N. K1 is a nickname for Keiichi based on the pronunciation of his name in Japanese (ichi = one). It's actually a pretty standard nickname for people named Keiichi in Japan, from what I've seen. One thing I chose to change between chapters is how I split up the texts/IM sections, mainly due to how the site's coding works.

Also, I'd like to apologize for possibly spamming everyone's inboxes with this. There were SEVERAL errors I needed to fix, and I ended up having to delete and resubmit the chapter several times.

* * *

"You're kinda bad at this."

"No I'm not!"

"You are _so_ bad at karaoke."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with _Sodeko-chan_ on this one, K1," Atsuro teased. "You were sucking pretty bad tonight. You were like… really bad off tempo."

It took Yuzu a moment to realize what Atsuro had just said. Once she did, she was rather red in the face, but she didn't get a chance to retort before Keiichi spoke up again.

"Okay, I was off tempo. I guess I'm a little tired…"

"A _little?_ K1, I think it says something when you're nodding off while Frou-Frou's doing her screechfest."

"H-Hey! I wasn't screeching!" Yuzu shot a glare at Atsuro before looking back toward Keiichi. "You do look kinda tired, though… Maybe you should go home and lay down."

Keiichi rubbed his head before speaking. "I guess. I'll see you guys on Monday, then!"

"Yeah, see ya!"

Keiichi waved goodbye to Yuzu before continuing down the street in the opposite direction from Yuzu and Atsuro. Considering how well he'd slept the night before, it was likely this was just all of the sleep he'd missed over the past week catching up with him. Naoya had said he'd looked tired too. Keiichi sighed and continued on down the street. He looked up at the sky. Night had fallen while he had been singing karaoke with Atsuro and Yuzu. Mom was probably wondering where he was. He sighed and pulled out his cell phone. He'd gotten the first few digits of his home's phone number in before he was grabbed from behind and a cloth placed over his mouth and nose.

Keiichi hadn't seen them coming. He hadn't had much of a chance to react before he realized that he smelled some kind of chemical on the cloth. He felt very sleepy, and felt himself slipping out of awareness far too quickly. The orange-robed man caught Keiichi's unconscious body in his arms and looked toward his partner, who nodded and helped carry Keiichi into an alley. When it was all done with, the only evidence that the kidnapping had even occurred was a fallen cell phone on the pavement.

* * *

Yuzu was sitting in front of her computer in her home. She was home by herself that night, as usual. Her mother was out on a date with her latest boyfriend, so Yuzu would likely be by herself for a while tonight. Right now she was doing her usual late night computer activity: chatting with people online. After the Lockdown, Yuzu had managed to get in contact with Midori again through the website Midori hosted her videos on. On nights when Midori wasn't doing her thing with the webcam, she was usually chatting with Yuzu through IM.

Somehow or another, though, the subject had drifted to K1. Yuzu wasn't sure _how_ it had drifted to K1. They had been talking about Atsuro, and Midori had asked how K1 was doing, and Yuzu had said fine, and she'd talked about how things had been, like usual, and then the subject of Amane asking K1 to have lunch with her had come up, and then it just spiraled from there. Yuzu shook her head and refocused her attention to the screen… and immediately her face got very red at Midori's response.

-MAGICAL GIRL DOLLY said: Y'know, you really need to ask Keiichi-kun out! (^w^)

-MAGICAL GIRL DOLLY said: That way you don't have to worry about Amane-chan taking him! (^w^)

-YUZ said: no wai! i mean, I lyk him as a friend not a BOYfriend

-MAGICAL GIRL DOLLY said: That's not what you told me last night~ (^w^)

-YUZ said: its not funny!

-MAGICAL GIRL DOLLY said: Come on, Yuzu! (^w^) You and Keiichi-kun have been friends for like, forever, right? And I know he likes you back, soooooo….

-YUZ said: i dunno…

-MAGICAL GIRL DOLLY said: Yuzuuuuuuuu

Yuzu groaned and began to type a response to Midori when she suddenly got a couple more messages.

-MAGICAL GIRL DOLLY said: Oh shoot! I nearly forgot! (-_-) I've gotta go, I've got a live webcast I'm doing in a couple minutes.

-MAGICAL GIRL DOLLY said: Try to catch it, OK? (^w^)

-MAGICAL GIRL DOLLY has left the chat-

-YUZ has left the chat-

Yuzu sighed and leaned back before laying down on the floor, not really caring about the hard wood floors and how much it hurt her head. She was… just so exhausted. And then Midori had gone and brought that up, and …. Just so exhausted. Yeah, she liked K1. She _like-_liked him. But unlike Midori, Yuzu wasn't so sure that K1 liked her back that way. No, that was a lie. She _knew_ he did; if he didn't, Atsuro wouldn't tease him all the time about that kind of stuff that Yuzu tried to pretend Atsuro wasn't really saying. Really, Yuzu was just a little afraid of what might happen if they took their relationship past the friend level. What if it didn't work out the way they wanted it to? What if it turned out they just couldn't work out together like that? Yuzu had been in relationships before, despite her attraction to K1, and she knew it was pretty much impossible to be "just friends" after a serious relationship like that. She didn't want to end up breaking their friendship that way.

She sat back up as she heard the hallway phone rang, and scrambled to her feet as she ran for it. She picked it up on the last ring.

"Hello, Tanikawa residence," Yuzu said into the phone.

_"Oh, thank goodness, Yuzu-chan. This is Keiichi's mother. Is Keiichi there?"_

"No…" Yuzu said apprehensively. She glanced at the hallway clock. It was nearly midnight… why would K1's mother be calling at a time like this…? "Why?"

_"Keiichi never came home tonight. I tried calling him, but he's not picking up. I tried calling Atsuro-kun and Naoya, but they both said they haven't seen him since earlier today…"_

Yuzu felt her palms get sweaty. K1 hadn't come home… "Naoya-san? He saw Naoya-san earlier?"

_"Yes, he visited Naoya's apartment before coming home earlier tonight."_

Yuzu clenched her hand tightly around the phone. Why would K1 see Naoya tonight of all nights? Sure, before K1 had made a habit of visiting Naoya's apartment every so often, but ever since the Lockdown, he'd avoided going there. K1 had been acting weird today… he'd been strangely happy that morning, he'd gone and had lunch with Amane, and then seen Naoya after school… he'd been tired after karaoke, too, but K1 had been really tired lately anyways. Yuzu didn't think he'd been sleeping well. None of them had been. But even still…

"…have you called the police?"

_"No, not yet… oh dear… Kei-chan…"_

"He's probably fine…" Yuzu pressed the phone closer to her face, and was aware of a bit of moisture on her cheeks. "He probably got lost or something…" Somehow, Yuzu doubted that. K1 had lived in Tokyo his whole life; he practically knew the place like the back of his hand. And this was the same karaoke joint they went to every time they went out for karaoke.

_"Yes, I suppose… thank you anyways."_

"Yeah… bye." Yuzu placed the phone back on the receiver before taking a couple steps back and leaning against the wall. Her knees felt weak. Somehow… she felt K1 was in serious trouble. For some reason, Yuzu felt very scared. She reached up and wiped away a few salty tears. She couldn't cry right now… K1 was fine. He was… probably just lost.

Yuzu was very aware of the fact that was, quite simply, denial.

* * *

When Keiichi woke up, the first thing he was aware of was that somewhere in front of him, there was a light. The light was very dim, and it was obviously still dark outside. He felt like he had been asleep for a very long time. His entire body hurt all over. He could tell that someone had tied his arms behind him and tied his ankles together. It actually took Keiichi a few moments to realize what should have been an obvious fact: he had been kidnapped. As his vision began to come into focus, he realized that there were people standing around him. People in orange… oh _god._

_"…. sure of it?"_

_ "He's …. one. He's the boy … Belberith-sama's power."_

_ "How can you know….. looks human…"_

_ "The…. told me so."_

Their voices were indistinct in his head. He couldn't make out everything his kidnappers (he didn't want to call them Shomonkai in his head) were saying. He looked up a bit and croaked out a few words, his throat dry.

"What's going on…?" Keiichi choked out. All conversation ceased, and every head in the room turned his direction. A man who seemed to be the leader stepped toward Keiichi. He was wearing a tattered robe that looked like it had been stolen directly from the Founder's closet. Actually, it likely had been, Keiichi would think later.

"You are the Bel who absorbed His Majesty's power," the man said. "Keiichi Kimura. A human who was caught up in the Lockdown and yet managed to involve himself in the war His Majesty was set to win. And then you used that power to send the demons away."

Keiichi tried to open his mouth to speak, but he couldn't get any words out. He finally settled to just nodding. The man bent down and grabbed him by the chin, forcing Keiichi to look straight at the man.

"But in doing so, you killed His Majesty. You absorbed his very being into your body." Keiichi tried to look away at that, but the man jerked his gaze back toward him with another tug at his chin. "You absorbed Belberith-sama, and you can bring him back. I am ordering you now. Release Belberith-sama so we may use his power once more."

The whole situation shot into frightening lucidity for Keiichi at that moment. His jaw hung slack as he realized what was going on. He had no idea how they had found out, but that very day they had found out who he was. He didn't think these people realized what they meant by "release Belberith-sama's" power. Belberith was dead. He was _long_ dead, despite what his nightmares told him. To release Belberith's actual power would mean giving in to that power locked inside him. And even then, it wouldn't be Belberith. It wouldn't be Keiichi anymore, either. Somehow, he knew that it wouldn't really be him anymore if he did that.

"…no." The word came out hushed and choked due to the lack of moisture in Keiichi's mouth.

"What did you say?"

"…I don't want to..." It hurt to speak. It hurt even more when the man pulled out a knife and sliced his cheek. Keiichi tried to give a scream, but it came out more a strangled gasp. A few of the followers took surprised steps back. One female follower, who looked to be about Keiichi's age, tried to step forward, but a look from their leader caused her to step back in line with the others again. She looked down and away from Keiichi.

"I can cut you all night until you listen to me, Kimura-san," the man said. Keiichi bit his lip and looked up at the man with a defiant glare. He got another rather deep slice for his insolence, this time in his arm. "Summon up the power of Belberith! Allow us to summon demons once more! I know you closed the gate!"

Keiichi swallowed back a gasp of pain and glared into the man's eyes. A fair bit of determination had come upon him then, one that would wane over the next few days of torture as this offshoot of the Shomonkai tried to get him to unleash his powers. He managed to work up a few words to say then and there.

"Eat shit and die," Keiichi snarled indignantly. He had the knife stabbed into his leg for his insolence and twisted, and then, he finally screamed.

* * *

Things had been slow for Gin lately. Haru was away, and she had insisted he _not_ come with her. It was odd, she'd been so clingy for the longest time, and yet, this time she'd left him and run off on her own. Trying to show that she was more self sufficient, maybe? That she didn't need to depend on him and an old memory of Aya anymore? Well, hell if he knew.

He looked up at the sound of the bell on the front door, and narrowed his eyes at the man that had stepped through the doorway. Gin was already on the guard as the silver-haired man just ignored him and sat down at the bar. Gin walked over in front of the man and slammed his hand down on the bar to catch his attention.

"I thought I told you to never come back here," Gin snarled at Naoya. Naoya only smirked up at him and sat up a bit.

"I think you need to calm down a bit, Eiji-san," Naoya said. He looked a bit depressed after saying that, but Gin was aware that it was most likely an act. After what had happened with Aya, he couldn't trust a single damn word that came out of this man's mouth. He'd given a bit more of a glare at Naoya as he used his real first name, but he didn't comment on it. Naoya took a moment more to speak. "I'm having a bad day."

"Oh?" Gin asked with mock concern. He placed a cup of sake in front of Naoya, already knowing what the man was going to ask for from prior experience.

"Yeah. My cousin, Keiichi, went missing last night," Naoya said. Now Gin's eyes widened. Naoya took a drink, and looked back toward Gin. "The police think he might have run away from home, but I don't think so. The Shomonkai have been prowling around again."

"Which would give them enough reason to suspect you," Gin growled back. "You were a member of the Shomonkai once upon a time yourself."

At that, Naoya shook his head. "Never a member. They just commissioned me to work for them for a brief time."

"A brief time which got Aya killed!"

"What happened to that woman is none of my concern. Not now, anyways." He took another drink of his sake. Gin narrowed his eyes. And there he was feigning that depression again. "…Besides, do you really think Keiichi would have come to me about his concerns with the Shomonkai that same night if he knew it would get himself possibly killed?"

"I think him coming to you might have been the thing that possibly got him killed," Gin growled.

And that was what set Naoya off. He slammed his hand down on the bar and gave what could only be described as a death glare to Gin.

"You think I _want_ Keiichi to get killed?" Naoya snarled. "I don't know what those Shomonkai bastards are doing with my little brother, but when I find them, they're dead! Don't even _suggest_ that I _wanted_ my little brother to get kidnapped!" He continued to glare at Gin for a few more moments before sitting back down. The man actually looked _exhausted, _both mentally and physically. In the very few interactions he'd ever had with this man, Gin had never seen him look so weak.

"You're sure he was kidnapped?"

"It's the only explanation I can see," Naoya said in a low voice. "He's a good kid… he wouldn't run away from home…" He shook his head, and stood up before pulling his wallet out of his haori. He pulled a couple bills from it and placed them on the bar before walking away. He stopped just as he was about to walk out of the door and looked back at Gin.

"My cousin saved your life once. I guess you're too concerned with running your stupid bar to return the favor," Naoya said with a rather hoarse voice. He continued out the door, and the bell hanging from just above the doorframe rang once again. Gin rang his hand through his hair. Aya always said he was too reckless, but dammit, that man had a point. He'd already planned on going to look for that Keiichi kid after what Naoya had said, but then he'd had to twist the dagger some more.

Outside the door, Naoya smirked. Eiji had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. Sometimes Naoya amazed himself with how well he could pull that off. He hadn't been lying either, he didn't actually often lie. All he'd had to do was amplify a few emotions, and Eiji, the gullible, headstrong idiot fell for it. Naoya had actually been looking into this still struggling faction of the Shomonkai for quite some time. It was lead by a Takashi Yamasaki, a man Naoya had worked with during his work on the summoning server. Yamasaki had quite the temper… Naoya wouldn't doubt he'd jumped straight to violence if Keiichi refused to listen to his demands. Most likely those demands involved releasing "His Majesty" Belberith in some way. Perhaps even reactivating the summoning server so a new god could be summoned. One thing Naoya knew was that Keiichi would refuse any demands Yamasaki would impose on him, but he also knew that Yamasaki wouldn't let Keiichi go free by any means. He'd rather kill him first. With no working COMP, the only way for Keiichi to get free would be to release the demonic powers boiling inside of him. Once that kind of godlike power was released, there wouldn't be any holding things back. In a way, this was a blessing in disguise.

When he found out who'd informed these zealots of Keiichi's identity, he was going to kill them.

* * *

_"My daughter is not a kidnapper!"_

Amane flinched at the sound of the phone being slammed back down on the table. The impact had left a sizable dent in the oak tabletop, and it didn't seem that her mother had realized she'd missed the receiver. Amane slowly walked out from behind the corner, staring at her infuriated mother. Amane's mother was a small woman, and she had bended under Amane's father's will for many years. She had allowed him to form his cult, had even joined it herself for some time. She had allowed the man to perform the ritual that had amplified Amane's spiritual abilities and made her open to the voices of angels and demons alike back when Amane was a child. It had been when talk emerged of killing the Devas that Amane's mother had finally run, leaving even her own daughter with that man just so she could get away. She "separated" from him by running all the way to Sapporo to stay with her family, and remained there until the Lockdown ended, her husband was "missing" (in her heart, Amane's mother had always known he'd died as a result of his fanaticism), and she could take Amane back.

It was at Amane's light footsteps that she turned to face her daughter. Amane's mother looked a little startled at her daughter. Amane felt a little afraid. She had been on her way out the door and on her way to school when she heard her mother yell, and had remained standing in the hall as her mother argued with someone on the other end of the line. She had only caught snippets of conversation, and while her name had never exactly come up, Amane knew they were talking about her.

"Amane-chan…"

"Mother… what was that about…?" Amane asked quietly. Amane's mother sighed and shook her head.

"It's not important, Amane-chan," Amane's mother said. "You should hurry to school with your friends."

Amane hung her head. Her mother knew she had no friends at school. It was such an obvious attempt to change the subject. Amane suddenly noticed that her mother's cheeks were wet. She was crying.

"Mother… please…" Amane pleaded.

Amane's mother wiped her face on her sleeve. "Amane, it's not important…"

"Mother! What were you talking about that involved me?" Amane was a bit surprised by the ferocity of her words. Her hands were clenched into fists. Maybe whatever it was distressed her mother, but someone had called Amane a _kidnapper._ She felt she had every right to be angry.

"Amane-chan!" Amane's mother yelled back. At that yell, silence fell in the room. Amane stood there simmering. It was Amane's mother who broke the silence.

"It was the police. A couple days ago, a student from your school went missing," Amane's mother explained. She looked Amane right in the eyes. "You're not involved with any more cult behavior, are you, Amane-chan?"

Amane shook her head vigorously. The only reason she could think her mother would be asking her about cult behavior was because of something to do with the Shomonkai remnants. The only thing to do with the Shomonkai she had involved herself in lately had been warning Keiichi to be careful. It occurred to Amane then that Keiichi hadn't been being as careful as he'd said he was going to be. Someone had gone missing. Cult behavior. Amane's knees felt week, and she collapsed, landing with her legs splayed out beside her.

"Amane-chan?"

"….I don't think I should go to school today…" Amane said weakly. She looked like she was going to be sick. She _felt_ like she was going to be sick. This was her fault; somehow she knew it _had_ to be her fault. Why else would Keiichi have gone missing the very day she told him to be careful about the angels and the Shomonkai? Why else had the angels' voices gone so silent over the weekend? Their outbursts of anger toward the young King of Bel had all but ceased after school that day, and it had seemed suspicious to Amane, but she hadn't thought anything of it. _Why_ hadn't she thought anything of it?

There was an odd amount of understanding in Amane's mother's eyes as she crouched down beside Amane. She put a hand on Amane's back and helped her to her feet. Amane was covering her mouth as she walked back upstairs with her mother's help. It was the guilt alone that was making her feel this sick. She couldn't go to school and face Keiichi's friends knowing it was her fault like that.

For how long had she been this _weak?_

_

* * *

_

"…So the last time you saw Kimura-san was when you were leaving a karaoke box in Shibuya?"

"Yeah," Atsuro said. His parents weren't home right now, and as a consequence, when the detectives had arrived at his front door, he'd had to face them alone. K1 hadn't shown up at school that day. He'd already known he'd never come home Saturday night, he'd been one of the first people K1's mom had called. Atsuro was extremely worried. What could have happened to K1 in the short distance from the karaoke place they'd gone to and K1's house?

"Alright. That's all the questions we have for you tonight," the detective and his partner stood up and headed for the front door. The moment Atsuro heard the door close shut, he pulled out his cell phone and began to text Yuzu.

-To: Yoohoo

- We need to look for K1. Tomorrow, after school, meet me in front of that karaoke place from the other day. We can look for him from there.

A reply came quickly enough.

-From: Yoohoo

-u think hes still around there?

-Reply:

-I don't know what to think. But we can start from there. If he's been kidnapped, they probably didn't take him too far. Probably stuffed him in a warehouse or something.

There was a longer pause between texts this time. Given how fast Yuzu's texts usually came, it was odd to Atsuro. He got the distinct image in his head of Yuzu typing out a message, then changing her mind and going back and erasing it the moment she finished. When he finally got his reply, it was incredibly short.

-From: Yoohoo

-yea

Atsuro flipped his cell phone closed, and flipped it back open a moment later to send Yuzu a final message.

-To: Yoohoo

-Don't stress about it too much, okay? K1'll be fine.

And with that, he closed his cell phone and stood up from where he had been sitting on a cushion on the floor. He looked toward the front door for a moment. He had no intentions of informing his parents about that little visit tonight. Not like they'd likely be home for a while, anyways. Half of the time, if they were home, it was just to check in on him, make sure he hadn't killed himself or locked himself inside the house or something.

As Atsuro set his futon out for the night, he glanced toward his window. Full moon. Damn, that was ominous. He hoped that wasn't a bad omen…

* * *

Three days.

Keiichi Kimura had been tied up here three days without food or water. Didn't you die if you went three days without water? He felt like he was going to die. He didn't want to die by any means, but he just couldn't' do what that man, Yamasaki, wanted him to do. That one Shomonkai girl had tried to get him some water once. Yamasaki had beaten her for it. Somehow, Keiichi got the feeling she was his daughter. It was the only reason he could think that someone like her would get pulled into something like this.

His entire body was covered with injuries. Many of them knife cuts, some of them with a _heated_ knife, done so that it would burn worse and scar badly. He'd been beaten a few times, whipped more than a few. His clothes were practically soaked in blood, and there were dried splatters around his feet from where it had hit the ground. He'd stopped trying to fight them after the second day. He was just too exhausted to fight back anymore. They couldn't keep him here forever… They were probably just going to let him starve to death.

Right now, Yamasaki was standing in front of Keiichi, with the same knife he'd used on the boy several times since kidnapping him. The other Shomonkai were, as usual, standing off to the side. As they had entered the room earlier, Keiichi had noticed one thing: they all had knives of their own today. This didn't occur as odd to Keiichi at the time, but there was another person in the room, a woman who _wasn't_ wearing a Shomonkai uniform. Yamasaki advanced toward Keiichi, and he seemed oddly excited.

"I think you've dragged this on long enough, Kimura-san," Yamasaki said. Keiichi only continued to look down at his lap, and didn't speak. He was so tired, but he knew if he closed his eyes, he'd get cut again. "The silent act? Have it your way. You'll be dead soon enough." The woman standing against the wall walked toward Yamasaki, who grinned toward her.

"I must say, I have to thank you for all of your aid," Yamasaki said. "Had it not been for you, we never would have found the boy who absorbed Belberith."

The woman didn't even give so much of a chuckle. Her voice was oddly monotonic to Keiichi. "Our goals are similar. We cannot allow Bel's power to remain trapped within His favorite child." She looked toward Keiichi for a moment. "I had expected him to give in by now, but I suppose his will to fight was stronger than I thought."

"The ritual you granted us should be enough to force it out," Yamasaki said. His voice was practically giddy. At that, the woman gave a bit of a chuckle, but did not say anything else. She stepped back from Yamasaki and resumed her former position on the other side of the room. Yamasaki held his hand up.

"Let all who call themselves followers of His Majesty gather in a circle around the human who absorbed His Majesty's power!" Yamasaki called. The Shomonkai moved over toward Keiichi and made a circle around him. "The angels have granted us a ritual that will free His Majesty from this human shell he is trapped in! With His Majesty's power, we will resist the ordeal the angels have warned us of! The time has come for the next ordeal, and with His Majesty's power, we alone will survive!"

"…angels," Keiichi breathed. His eyes were wide and panicked. The _angels_ were the ones who had told them. The angels who hated him had found out Amane had warned him and told the Shomonkai his identity, and then the angels had pushed the Shomonkai to make him release the power of Bel so they'd have an excuse to smite him and take humanity's free will from them. That was why he was here. Everything came together at that very moment, and a strong emotion began to overtake Keiichi. It was pure hatred. He hated the angels. He hated the God that had enacted the Lockdown most of all. He had never been fond of God, but this hatred bubbling up from inside him _despised_ that so-called creator. It was His fault. It was His fault he was here, tied up. It was His fault he was going to die.

But he had power, didn't he? He could get away from here… there wasn't a need to die here. A crack appeared in the lock Keiichi had placed on that strong power of Bel so many months ago. The angels were still in Tokyo. He couldn't die here. He needed to live. More cracks formed. _But Keiichi, you promised!_ A voice called in Keiichi's head. It spoke in Amane's voice. Promised? Fuck promises! How many of hers had she kept? How many promises had that "God" she had tried to make him serve kept?

And at that moment, the lock shattered.

Keiichi didn't even notice the surge of power that went through his body. He only began to grin and pulled his arm to the side, effortlessly ripping the rope tying his wrists together. The rope around his feet tore just as easily. He stood up from the chair he had spent the past three days tied to and surveyed the ring of people around him. He wasn't even aware of how strong the aura he was giving off was. The people around him looked afraid for more than one reason. Keiichi (if it was still right to call him that) gave a rather dark chuckle.

_"So… the angels were the ones who told you everything…?" _Keiichi said in his weak, yet somehow much darker voice. Yamasaki was staring on in horror, and then his expression widened into a grin.

"Belberith-sama has descended," Yamasaki breathed. The other Shomonkai members were still gaping in horror. They hadn't even had a demonstration of his power yet, and yet the horrid dark aura that was reaching into their very minds was enough to create that terror in them.

_"…Belberith is dead. If you love him that much…. Then you should join him in hell."_

The command created a marked effect among the Shomonkai. They suddenly stopped moving, and they looked much like they were possessed. The first to move was Yamasaki. He lifted the knife grasped in his hand up to his throat and gave an insane grin.

"All hail His Majesty," Yamasaki said before slashing his throat open with the blade. A fountain of blood sprayed from his slashed throat, and he fell to the ground. The other Shomonkai members began to gave the same gleeful grin and lifted their own knives to their throat.

"All hail His Majesty," they chorused, and slashed their own throats open. The woman in the back of the room only continued to marvel at the spectacle. Eventually, the only ones left standing were Keiichi and that one Shomonkai girl. The Shomonkai girl was shuddering, and it seemed she was trying to resist. Keiichi only continued to stare at her. She began to shake a bit more as his gaze penetrated her, and finally, she just stopped. She looked up at Keiichi with the same insane look.

"All glory to His Majesty," she said in her small voice before driving the knife into her throat. She fell to the ground, and landed in a puddle of her own blood. Keiichi stared at her for a few moments, not even noticing the still laughing woman in the back of the room. The laugher only ceased when the woman realized Keiichi would kill her if she remained and teleported from the building. Keiichi noted the ring of blood around him… and suddenly his legs felt very weak. He fell and landed on his side, and half closed his eyes. He'd forgotten just how hungry and tired he was… he shouldn't have even been able to stand up.

He'd killed them all. Just with a word, they had all killed themselves… for him. It was only here, injured, on the ground, that that fact began to bother him. He was vaguely aware of voices… all of them familiar, all of them panicked. The thoughts came easily, without resistance.

_Kill them. Rip their guts. Destroy their hopes and dreams. The human realm belongs to you and only you._

"Oh god," Keiichi choked out. "I can't hold it back anymore."

And then, Keiichi finally slipped out of consciousness.


	3. Hospital

**HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT NEARLY TORTURED TO DEATH BY CULT**

_By Meiko Shoji, October XX, 20XX_

SHIBUYA - A 17-year old teenager who went missing on Saturday was found starved and tortured nearly to death in a warehouse in Shibuya yesterday night, authorities report. The teenager, Boy A, had gone missing after going out for karaoke Saturday night, when he was kidnapped by a few Shomonkai cult members. Boy A was found by two other students of his school, Boy B and Girl A, and the owner of a nearby bar, Eiji Kamiya. The bodies of several Shomonkai members were found around Boy A. It is believed the Shomonkai members committed ritual suicide, and had been planning on using Boy A as a sacrifice to Belberith, a demon worshipped by the Shomonkai.

"We couldn't believe it when we got there," said Kamiya after the incident. "We found him collapsed on the ground, bleeding to death, with a bunch of dead Shomonkai cultists around him." Kamiya had met Boy A during the events of the Tokyo Lockdown two months ago, and had agreed to help Boy A's friends search for him after he went missing Saturday night. Upon discovering Boy A, Kamiya called the police and an ambulance.

At the time of his admission to the hospital, Boy A was in critical condition and was rushed into emergency surgery upon admission. As of this writing, he is stable.

* * *

The first thing Keiichi heard when he awoke was the beeping of the machine next to him. His body hurt. He was in a room of white, and he could feel his body was covered in bandages. There was a rather large and noticeable one covering practically half of his face. His blue hair fell across his face, and he didn't bother to move it out of his line of sight. Despite the cleanliness of the room, his hair still felt grimy. There was a rather dead, shellshocked look in his eyes. He didn't dare sit up. He didn't think he could. He struggled to recall what had occurred before he'd passed out. The memories were unclear in his head. The clearest part of what had happened was collapsing and seeing Atsuro, Yuzu, and Gin show up to help him. He screwed up his face as he tried to remember everything that had occurred. He immediately wished he hadn't as the memories hit him.

He'd made all of those people kill themselves. Even that one girl (he hadn't even bothered to learn her _name)_ who had tried to help him so many times. He'd made them kill themselves… He didn't even know how he'd done it, he just had. The worst part was he felt that some part of him had _enjoyed_ it. He felt sickened with himself.

_Break free. Your soul is the blackest thing in this room, so remove yourself from the sea of white. Stain it red._

Keiichi gave a wince of actual physical pain at that thought. He still felt dizzy. How could he _think_ these kinds of things?

_"LET ME THROUGH!"_

Keiichi turned his head toward the door at the sound of a familiar yell from further down the hall. He knew that voice. He didn't recognize the degree of panic and anger he heard in it.

_"Kimura-san, you are quite aware of why you are not allowed in there."_

_ "I don't give a damn! My little brother is in there, and if you think I'm just going to stand by and watch as he _dies_—"_

_ "Kimura-san, what you think doesn't matter right now. We have our orders to move you out of Tokyo today. Familial emergencies do not apply here. You should be glad we gave you the grace period we did before deciding to move you to solitary confinement."_

A pause before Naoya began to speak again.

_"I don't think you quite realize what will happen once my little brother wakes up. You saw first hand the effects of his power. When he wakes up, he _will_ be panicked and confused. His powers are unstable at the moment. If he wakes up with someone unfamiliar near him, he might panic, and then everyone inside this hospital will end up the same way those Shomonkai cultists did. And so I repeat: __**let me through**__."_

Keiichi saw something on the other side of the window on the door move, and quickly rolled over so he was looking up at the ceiling before squeezing his eyes shut. He heard the noise of someone walking over to him and sitting down in a wooden chair to his left.

"Keiichi, I know you're awake."

Keiichi opened his eyes and turned his head back toward Naoya. He gave a weak smile. "You could tell, huh?"

"You were never a good liar," Naoya stated. His expression softened a bit. "How are you feeling?"

Keiichi didn't respond for several moments. "My whole body hurts."

"I would expect so, after what happened to you. The Shomonkai were trying to use you for some kind of ritual, weren't they." It was said as a statement of fact, not a question. Keiichi finally nodded.

"They wanted me to… release Belberith, I think they said. I don't know what they meant, but…" Something clicked into place in Keiichi's head. He attempted to sit up, only to wince in pain from his various wounds and lay back down. There was an urgent look in his eyes as he looked toward Naoya again. "Naoya, they wanted me to give them the ability to summon _demons_ again. They thought me getting rid of Belberith was why they couldn't summon anymore. They mentioned Babel, too… How did they even know about Babel?"

Naoya shrugged. "The man who ordered your kidnapping, Yamasaki, was formerly a high ranking member of the Shomonkai. It is likely he learned about Babel from Kuzuryu himself."

Keiichi nodded and looked back up at the ceiling again. There was a long pause before he said anything else. "Why did you come here?"

"Why shouldn't I have? You're my precious little brother, aren't you? I have a right to be concerned."

Keiichi couldn't resist groaning. "Again with the _otouto_ stuff? We're _cousins_, Naoya, despite how much you may wish we were actual brothers."

There was an expression Naoya had at that comment that Keiichi couldn't read. It was almost a knowing smirk, but there was some regret mixed in there. Keiichi blinked, and it was gone, back to Naoya's usual smirk.

"Perhaps I just miss you calling me Naoya-niichan," Naoya teased. "I think I'd like that. You should start calling me Naoya-niichan again."

Keiichi groaned. "You are such a jerk…" There was a pause, and Keiichi turned his head to the side to look at Naoya a bit better. He gave a smile. With how tense things had been between them, they hadn't gotten a chance to really talk like they used to. It had been "Lockdown" this and "Throne of Bel" that for the longest time. "Hey, Naoya?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for coming."

"It was no trouble," Naoya said. He leaned back in the chair. Keiichi smiled and rolled back into his previous position, and closed his eyes like he was about to fall asleep again. Naoya only smirked and looked toward the door. They wouldn't dare remove him from Keiichi's bedside now that he'd shown how easily he could calm his little brother down again. With how long it would take Keiichi to recover, he could buy himself quite a bit of time. Their conversation had proved a few things, as well. Not only had Keiichi's demonic powers awakened (as already evidenced by the strange suicides of the Shomonkai zealots), but the emotional torment brought on by their awakening pushed Keiichi right back into trusting him again. He had actually been unsure about how things would work out for a moment there, but now that Keiichi trusted him again, things were more on track than they had ever been.

* * *

"Oh, Kei-chan!"

Keiichi winced as his mother's arms wrapped around him. "Mom… ow, that hurts…"

"Please, Kimura-san," the doctor put a hand on Keiichi's mother's shoulder as he addressed her. "You may aggravate his injuries further."

Mizuki Kimura let go of Keiichi and wiped away a few tears. "I'm so glad you're okay… when you didn't come home, I was so worried… and then when they found you…" She wiped away a few more. "I'm just so glad you're okay…"

"Thank you for making it here, Naoya," Kenta Kimura said to Naoya, who was still sitting down in the chair next to Keiichi. Unlike Mizuki, Kenta had blue hair. It was that same blue hair Keiichi had inherited. It was only through some kind of odd genetics on his mother's side that Naoya had gotten his silver hair.

"It was no problem at all, Kenta-ojiisan," Naoya said. He still had his characteristic smirk. Kenta didn't react to the honorific; either he'd thought Naoya was calling him "uncle" or had chosen to ignore the fact that Naoya had just stealthily called him an old man. "When I heard they had found Keiichi, I hurried down here as fast as I could. They wouldn't let me in until he was bandaged and stitched up, though." Keiichi gave a smile at Naoya's words, though it was unlikely his parents would realize why he was actually smiling. Naoya doubted Keiichi's parents had really _ever_ seen his true face more than a few times. Everything he had just said was just so obedient and polite and older brotherly, it was completely unlike Naoya's true self.

_Adam and Eve never saw __**his**__ true face until he was dead, and only then did they realize what kind of monster they'd birthed-_

"Excuse me…" The doctor attempted to cut in again. This time, Keiichi's parents actually looked toward him. "I would like to talk to you two outside before you leave."

"Oh, of course," Keiichi's mother said, and the two of them started for the door. The doctor looked toward Naoya, who shrugged and turned toward Keiichi.

"I suppose I can't do a thing about visiting hours being over."

And with that Naoya stood up as well. Keiichi frowned and rolled over, and Naoya stood there until he was sure Keiichi was falling asleep again before heading out the door. The doctor was standing out in the hallway with Keiichi's parents. The doctor had a rather grave expression on his face as he spoke.

"…Keiichi's injuries are very serious. His body is covered in injuries consistent with some rather severe forms of torture. Several of his ribs were broken, as well as one of his arms. There were several fractures throughout his body, and at the time of his arrival to the hospital, there was some internal bleeding. He was dehydrated and starved, as well. It is a miracle he is still alive."

"They must have found Kei-chan just in time…" Mizuki whispered. Kenta nodded. Naoya wasn't satisfied with that answer. The man's expression clearly said he had more he wanted to say, but didn't know how to say it.

"You're not telling us something," Naoya growled.

"A-Ah, well… I was getting to that. You see… Keiichi's injuries are healing extraordinarily quickly. Since he was brought to this hospital a day ago, most of his minor cuts and wounds have already healed. Not scabbed over. Completely healed."

"How is that even—"

"I'm not sure, Kimura-san," the doctor said to Kenta. Mizuki gave a startled gasp at the doctor's next words. "But your son is healing faster than any normal human should be able to. His bones are already healing, even though that kind of process should take weeks. The marrow and bone cells were forming so quickly, we nearly didn't set the bones in time before any kind of permanent damage set in. As you can see, this situation is very strange. Now, I have heard rumors the cult that kidnapped your son were performing some sort of… human experiments—"

"They weren't experimenting on him," Naoya said matter-of-factly. The three others looked toward him, and Naoya shrugged. That was all of the answer he gave, and the other three continued speaking.

"In any case, at his current rate of healing, he should be fully healed in two weeks at most. Perhaps even just a week. However, I would like to keep him here longer to run some tests. In order to see what is causing this strange cell growth, of course."

"Oh… yes, that would be important, wouldn't it…" Mizuki said. She clutched her upper arm and Naoya could see she was holding back a few tears.

"That would be fine," Kenta said hurriedly. The doctor gave a quick bow.

"Thank you," the doctor said. "Now, you three should return home. Visiting hours are over, and I have already kept you far too long."

"Ah, I see," Kenta said. "Yes, thank you very much." He bowed to the doctor, and put a hand on Mizuki's shoulder, startling her. Naoya sighed and started walking down the hallway before Kenta and Mizuki could start down it. Keiichi's parents were always like this. They wouldn't be able to visit Keiichi regularly due to their work schedules, either, something that would greatly pain Mizuki at the very least. But unlike them, Naoya could actually make it here to visit Keiichi. That kind of company would make Keiichi trust him even more.

He neither noticed nor cared how far ahead of Keiichi's parents he'd walked when he finally stopped. He smirked at the woman standing in the corner of the nearly deserted lobby. Earlier that day, she had been wearing an SDF uniform, but now her outfit was much less armored and more formal. The woman glared back at Naoya.

"How cold, Captain Izuna," Naoya taunted.

"We already have the information on your cousin's condition. That was a dangerous card you pulled earlier," Izuna stated. Just as she was about to add onto that, Naoya cut in.

"Don't you think we should wait until we're somewhere more private to talk, Captain?" Naoya asked and gestured around to the people standing in the lobby. "You wouldn't want to violate any secrecy acts, would you?"

Izuna continued to glare at Naoya, and Naoya maintained eye contact between them. He was the one who ended up breaking eye contact by turning back toward the hospital doors and walking right out. Izuna opened her mouth to voice some sort of protest, but Naoya only continued walking. She followed after him, and waited until she had caught up to him to speak.

"You hold immense control over Keiichi, and we already know you wish to use the demons for your own purposes. Considering these facts, I see very little reason to allow you to spend more time with Keiichi like you requested," Izuna said in a harsh whisper. "Should you bring the demons upon Tokyo again, everything we have worked for will go to waste."

"I respect my cousin's choice, Izuna-san," Naoya said. "You honestly believe I would use this moment of weakness to force him to bring back the demons?"

"I would not put it past you."

Naoya only gave a dark chuckle at that. "Nevertheless, I am also the only one that can calm him down should he lose control. And if he loses control, Tokyo will undoubtedly return to the hell it became two months ago. Hm, what to do…"

Izuna scowled. "Your attitude makes me sick." Naoya only gave another chuckle and walked even faster. Eating out of the palm of his hand…

"Alright. You may remain in Tokyo until your cousin leaves the hospital." Izuna sped up and stopped in front of Naoya. "But once he leaves, you have to leave Tokyo as well. You have stalled the inevitable long enough. You should be glad we haven't deported you for treason."

"Because being jailed somewhere out in the middle of nowhere in Hokkaido is so much better," Naoya said, his voice bleeding with sarcasm. "I think the only worse place you could send me would be Miyakejima." And without another word, he pushed past Izuna and continued walking toward his apartment. He would be back at the hospital in the morning to see Keiichi. They could continue their talk then.

* * *

Yuzu had been incredibly excited to hear that they were finally allowing K1 to have visitors. No one blamed her, but she was _super_ excited about it. She had been so depressed since they'd found K1. She'd been the first one to see him when they got to that warehouse. It had been pretty gory. A bunch of dead Shomonkai surrounding K1, who had been just about dead himself. After the incident, they hadn't been allowed to see K1 for a couple days. But now they were letting him have visitors, and they could finally come by! Atsuro, the nerd, was of course bringing all of the homework K1 had missed.

When Yuzu and Atsuro walked into K1's room, they hadn't expected to see Naoya sitting there next to K1's bed, though. Yuzu scowled at the man. He'd always unsettled her, but after the Lockdown, she disliked him even more. She looked over at K1, and just looking at him made her stomach flop. Much of his body, including part of his face, was covered in bandages. They ran around his arms, up his neck, across his chest… It was horrible. But the worst part was K1's eyes. The look in his eyes was not unlike that of a dead man. It was like no light could shine in them. It was _disturbing._

Naoya and K1 both looked up as the two of them entered the room. K1 gave a smile that in normal circumstances would have been sweet, but to Yuzu it just looked creepy. She looked toward Atsuro, and his expression rather matched hers. So she wasn't imagining it…

Atsuro managed to walk over to K1's bed grinning. "Hey, K1! How ya feeling?"

"Better than I did when you found me," K1 said with a small laugh. He looked over at Yuzu and gave a grin. "Hey, Yuzu."

Yuzu gulped and gave a wave. "Heya, K1." She saw Naoya's smirk widen and glared at him. What the hell did _he_ find so funny? Why was he even there, anyways? K1 had said Naoya was moving soon; shouldn't he have been busy getting ready to move far, _far_ away? She ignored Naoya and walked over to K1's side before kneeling down beside him. She laid her left arm down on the bed and rested her head on top of it while grasping K1's hand with her right. "I missed you."

K1 blushed and looked away. "Yeah, me too."

At that moment, a large leather bag dropped on K1's bed. Both Yuzu and K1 jumped and looked toward Atsuro, who had a large grin on his face. _"That's_ all the notes and homework you missed. I figure you get pretty bored here, so might as well pass the time with this crap, right?"

Naoya gave a wide grin and leaned forward. "He won't have the chance to. They've been doing tests on him since he arrived here."

Yuzu frowned and looked back over at K1. "Tests? Like what?"

K1 shrugged. "Every now and then, they've been taking blood samples… I think they took a marrow sample once, too."

"Marrow? Like bones?"

K1 shrugged. "I don't get it either." Atsuro frowned, then looked over at Naoya. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, as if the three teenagers in the room were expecting an explanation from the older man. Yuzu could tell Atsuro certainly was. After about a minute of silence, Atsuro finally grinned and whipped his laptop out of his bag.

"Oh yeah, Naoya-san! Would you mind looking over some coding I made last night for me?" Atsuro placed the laptop on the bed next to K1 and powered it on. Naoya shrugged and leaned forward to look at the laptop, even as it was still booting up. Yuzu groaned and looked back toward K1.

"There they go again," Yuzu complained. "I wish you could get out of bed right now. Then we could ditch these losers and go somewhere fun." K1 gave a laugh in response, and Yuzu smiled back up at K1. She was glad to be here. Even with those dead eyes staring at her, she felt happy to be here, by K1's side. She really didn't want to move from this spot. Most of all, she wished time would just stop, even though she knew the days she'd wanted to go on forever had already ended.

* * *

Atsuro and Yuzu spent a very long time with Keiichi. Later on that afternoon, a Keisuke Tagaki had shown up. Naoya vaguely remembered giving the boy a COMP prior to the beginning of the Lockdown, having already known that he was an old friend of Atsuro's and would likely be caught up in the Lockdown. Unlike Atsuro and Yuzu, Keisuke hadn't hidden his dislike for him. Naoya hadn't really cared, but K1 had spent much of the time Keisuke had spent there telling him how much of a good person he really was. If only his little brother really knew…

Atsuro, Yuzu and Keisuke had eventually been ushered out by a nurse, and Naoya had only left later because the nurse knew he visited every day. Even when they technically hadn't been allowing visitors to Keiichi's room, they'd still allowed him in, much to the nurse's confusion. She'd eventually stopped arguing with him and just let him continue on.

Naoya continued walking out of the hospital with a smug look on his face. The SDF were fools, especially Izuna. She was easily manipulated, and would do anything to protect her country. No wonder she'd allowed him so close to Keiichi, despite the risks. She didn't realize it was a lose-lose situation…

"You're certainly spending quite a bit of time with your previous little brother, aren't you, _Naoya?"_

Naoya stopped at the familiar voice, seeming almost startled. He closed his eyes and chuckled as the usual smirk returned. "I didn't expect to see you here. Shouldn't you be in the demon realm with everyone else, Loki?"

Leaning up against the hospital exterior wall was a rather stylish man wearing a purple suit. His hair was slicked back, and he had a confident air about him, but being around him also gave you the sense that there was something wrong about him. Naoya had known this man for a very long time, though not always in the same form. He also didn't like him much. Loki's own smirk, one very similar to Naoya's own, remained plastered on his face as he walked over toward the other man.

"Not all demons come through the King's Gate," Loki chuckled. "Something even you don't seem to realize. I thought you smarter than that, Naoya!"

Naoya gave Loki a cold stare. "You didn't come just to taunt me, did you?"

"Oh, how _cold,_ Naoya. Could it be you miss my comfort? I'm sorry to say, my love is only for Keiichi now."

Naoya rolled his eyes. If this was all Loki was here for, then he had no reason to talk to him. "Your games sicken me. And I would prefer if you stayed away from him right now."

"Despite all of the help I've given you in the past?" Loki shook his head sadly. "Well, he's certainly moving along quite well now. It won't be long until his demonic blood fully awakens."

"Indeed," Naoya grumbled.

"Y'know, you should be thanking me," Loki continued. "If it weren't for the name I gave those zealots, it's possible Keiichi would have remained the way he was…"

The moment Loki finished talking, Naoya's hand grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forced him up against the hospital wall. There was an almost murderous look in Naoya's eyes, and he was very obviously seething with anger.

_"You_ told them Keiichi's name!"

"But of course! After all, what better than a bunch of Bel worshipping cultists to awaken Abel's true self?" Loki's smirk only grew wider, even as Naoya pushed him further against the wall. "It was so easy, too. All I had to do was take the form of a human woman and claim I was an angel, and they listened to everything I said. All they needed was Abel's human name and a 'ritual' to awaken him, and everything was in place. It didn't even occur to them once that no angel would willingly tell them a ritual to essentially awaken a sealed demon. It wasn't even a real ritual, either. Just a way to scare little Abel into actually acting."

"You _bastard!"_

"You have no right to complain. This was the opportunity you were waiting for, wasn't it? Thanks to me, your plans can continue unhitched." Loki's expression became serious. "You know quite well you can't have both the human and the demon. The longer you hold onto your sentimentality toward him, the more you hinder your own goals."

Naoya let go of Loki's collar and stepped back, still glaring at the demon. _"Leave._ And don't let me ever catch you near him again."

Loki's expression remained serious. "Your indecisiveness will cost you everything you've worked for, Cain." A chilly wind began to blow, and Naoya shielded his eyes as a rather strong gust blew past. When it faded, Loki was gone, and Naoya was alone.

He clenched his hands into fists and punched the wall. That damn demon knew how to get under his skin every time. And he was _right. _For the first time in millennia, Naoya was regretting his actions. Naoya knew all along he couldn't have both Keiichi and Abel. He was just deluding himself. The constant visits, the banter, _everything _he had done for Keiichi wasn't out of straight manipulation. It had aided him, but in the end, it had been because he'd loved Keiichi the way he would a brother. Like he had Abel before he'd so cruelly killed him all of those years ago. Maybe he'd done what he'd done during the Lockdown for his own gains, but how much of what he'd done was his own brotherly love shining through?

It had to be some sort of divine irony the way Keiichi had turned out. Somehow, he had ended up more like the original Abel than any of the other bearers of Abel's essence Naoya had met over his many, many lives. At times it had infuriated him just how damn _innocent_ Keiichi could be. But it was that personality of his that had driven Naoya closer to him, and it was that personality that had caused him to become so attached to him. Thousands of people trapped in the Lockdown, with at least ten bearers of the essence of Abel among them. And he'd chosen Keiichi, not because he was the one he had the most ability to manipulate, but because he was closest to the original Abel.

He knew he had to let go of Keiichi. Once that demonic blood awakened, that human personality wouldn't be able to remain. It was the simple facts of things. The demon that had gained the title of Bel was just too strong, and even if any of Keiichi did remain afterwards, a human heart wouldn't be able to take the hell they would have to go through for a war like that. He would succeed in corrupting God's favorite son, but at the same time, he would lose the Abel he had known forever. It was too late to turn back now, those memories were already awakening. Naoya just wished there was some kind of possible compromise.


	4. Escape

It had been over a week since Keiichi had first been hospitalized, nearly two weeks since he had first been kidnapped, and yet he still found himself worrying about classwork. The doctor that had been taking care of him continued to refuse to allow him to leave, though he had healed to the point he could take walks around the hospital. He could walk around the hospital, but he couldn't actually _leave._ Not being allowed to leave the hospital meant he couldn't go to school, meaning he couldn't do his classwork. It was for this reason he was glad Atsuro and Yuzu came by so often. It was also for this reason he was glad Naoya was there to help with his math work.

Keiichi didn't really understand why they wouldn't let him leave. His wounds had healed up for the most part, and he was more than healthy enough with the nutrition plan they'd put him on.

No, he knew exactly why they wouldn't let him leave. It had to do with those tests they kept doing on him. Hell, Keiichi wasn't blind; he'd heard the report on his various injuries. The fact he was even walking around a week after the incident was more than a miracle. It was _uncanny. _ He'd had broken limbs before, and they took _months_ to heal. He wasn't blind to the likely reason why, either.

_This world is an empty husk. It is a canvas of white for you to color, and the longer you deny yourself, the longer it stays in this empty, unfinished state, forever put on trial._

He'd felt that lock break when he finally lost it, after all. And unlike Yuzu and occasionally Atsuro, he knew the events of the Lockdown hadn't been one collective hallucination. He knew he still had that power of Bel dormant within him. Except now it wasn't so dormant, because he'd… _killed…_

_ Stop denying yourself. What you lust for the most is blood. You don't even truly belong to this world now that you've awakened to your true nature. There is no reason to resist._

Even thinking the word was painful to him. It awakened that _voice._ Keiichi didn't know where it came from. It spoke in a voice that was like that of the Bels he had defeated all at once and his own at the same time, and it frightened him, because he knew that those weren't some external force's thoughts, but his own, buried deep in his subconscious and only now digging their way out.

_Kill them, cut their throat, spill their blood._

_I'm insane,_ Keiichi found himself thinking. It didn't seem all that unlikely anymore. The Shomonkai had finally brought him over the brink, and he'd fallen off of that knife's edge into insanity. He couldn't blame everything on the Throne, after all, even though he was sure that had a lot to do with it, too.

Yuzu and Atsuro came every day after school. Keiichi's parents came when they had free time. Naoya came every day from when visiting hours started to when they ended. Because of this, Naoya was Keiichi's almost constant companion while he lay here in this bed. Other people had visited too. Keisuke had come by once, and Mari, who worked in the same hospital, tended to visit during her breaks. Even Amane had come by once, though the encounter hadn't gone well.

Amane had been nervous when she'd entered the door, but the moment she saw Naoya, things had gone downhill. Sure, she'd _tried_ being respectful at first, and Naoya certainly had been speaking somewhat respectfully, however his manner of speaking had eventually ticked her off to the point that they'd started arguing over his kidnapping. Eventually Keiichi had asked them both to leave the room, and that had been the end of visitors for the day. They'd probably continued on once they were out of earshot, though.

At the moment, Keiichi was staring out the window as he allowed himself to lose himself in his thoughts. His eyes were unfocused, like he was looking at something that wasn't really there. Naoya sat to his left, and at the moment was reading an occult magazine he had picked up from someone on the way to the hospital. Naoya looked up as the door creaked open.

"Hey, it's our favorite hospitalized friend! And he's staring off into space, as usual!" Atsuro grinned and stepped into the room, followed by Yuzu. Yuzu was smiling, though she had that slightly scared look she always tended to get around him again. Naoya smirked and touched Keiichi's arm, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Your friends are here," Naoya stated. Keiichi blinked and looked over toward Atsuro and Yuzu. He smiled, which caused Yuzu to flinch a little, but it passed quickly enough. Atsuro walked over to Keiichi and emptied the leather school bag on top of Keiichi's bed. Keiichi groaned.

"Couldn't they just wait until I get out to give me all of this schoolwork?" Keiichi sighed and placed the papers on the slowly growing pile of schoolwork next to his hospital bed. He was a bit surprised the nurses hadn't gotten on him about that yet.

"Oh, like you'll actually do it once you get out anyways," Atsuro teased. Keiichi rolled his eyes and climbed out of bed before walking over toward Yuzu.

"Come on, let's go walk around the hospital a bit," Keiichi said. Yuzu nodded, and the two of them headed into the hallway. Yuzu was still smiling as they headed out, but she was keeping more distance from Keiichi than she usually did. No, that wasn't true. This was the same amount of distance she had been staying from him since he'd finally been allowed to walk around. It just wasn't until this very moment that Keiichi realized she was standing abnormally far from him. Keiichi didn't stop walking until they were a few doors down from his hospital room. His smile was bitter as he spoke.

"You're scared of me, aren't you?" Keiichi asked. Yuzu looked surprised at his words.

"N-No, that's not true, where are you getting that idea fro—"

Keiichi waved for Yuzu to stop. "It's okay. I… scare me a little too." His expression was rather pained, and it was rather clear to Yuzu that Keiichi was forcing himself to smile. She looked away from him.

"…What's happened to you?" Yuzu asked in a soft voice. Her hands were grasping her arms, in a sort of self-hug. "Ever since the Shomonkai kidnapped you, you've been…" She shook her head again.

Keiichi hesitated before speaking up. "…Yuzu, you remember how I had to defeat all of the Bels during the lockdown? How I absorbed their power?"

Yuzu looked _very_ nervous at those words. "C-Come on, K1… you know that was all just a big hallucination."

Something about those words was making Keiichi angry. He knew Yuzu didn't believe what happened during the Lockdown had been real. He knew she pretended it was all a hallucination. He'd known that from the moment school started up again and she didn't even _mention_ the Lockdown. And yet the fact she couldn't face the goddamn facts now was only making him even angrier. He clenched his hands into fists as she continued to speak.

"You didn't really absorb all those demons," Yuzu said. She was looking right at him, and shaking, like some kind of scared animal. Keiichi ignored it and clenched his hands tighter.

"But I _did_, Yuzu. I did and I took that Throne of Bel and sent all of the demons back," Keiichi said. His voice was frighteningly dark.

_Kill her._

_ Shut up,_ Keiichi growled back in his head.

"Come on, K1… it's not funny," Yuzu said. Keiichi took a couple steps toward Yuzu, and she backed into the wall.

_Kill the bitch, flay her alive, skin her!_

"I'm not lying, Yuzu," Keiichi said. He willed his speeding heartbeat to slow down just a bit. It wasn't working. Why did his chest hurt so bad…? He felt dizzy.

"Then say what you want to say!" Yuzu's voice was shrill. Keiichi flinched back a bit, and the glare he sent Yuzu's direction shut her up.

"I'm not going to say it if you're not going to listen to me!" Keiichi yelled. "I'm trying to tell the truth!"

"I-I'm listening, K1, but _please—"_

_ DEVOUR her, RIP her SOUL from her BODY, RAPE her, TEAR her FLESH! She is your PREY and nothing more!_

_ "SHUT UP!"_

Keiichi wasn't sure if he was yelling at Yuzu or the voice. There was a sharp pain in his eyes, like someone was pressing down on them. About the moment the pain started, Yuzu's expression became even more terrified. If she could have melted into the wall, she would have. The expression of fear on her face both scared and excited Keiichi, and he took several steps toward her before pressing his hands up against the wall on either side of Yuzu.

"Pl-Pl-Please, K1, you're scaring me…" Yuzu sobbed. Her eyes met his, and another sharp bolt of pain exploded just behind his eyes.

_"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up,"_ Keiichi snarled. "Just _shut up,_ you damn _bitch! _I don't want to hear anything else from you!" He grabbed Yuzu's blouse and tore it, revealing the blue striped strapless bra underneath. Yuzu gave another cry, and her sobs became even more frantic. With each sob that _voice_ got louder. Keiichi was having a hard time ignoring it. He didn't even want to ignore it anymore.

_Kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her,__** KILL HER, KILL HER, **_**KILL HER, KILL HER**

"K1, please, stop!" Yuzu cried out. She was now afraid for her life. Keiichi's mouth curled into a grin, and Yuzu let out a scream.

_"Oh god, K1, your eyes, please, please, stop!"_ Yuzu pleaded, tears streaming down her face. She let out a gasp as Keiichi seized her by the neck with both hands. Yuzu's face began to turn blue as her air flow was completely cut off.

_"What the hell's going on out here?"_

Atsuro and Naoya both rushed into the hallway. Atsuro's eyes widened as he saw Keiichi's excited expression and Yuzu being strangled by Keiichi. Only one thought moved across Atsuro's mind as he saw Keiichi.

_That's not K1,_ Atsuro thought to himself before rushing at Keiichi and grabbing his arm. He was trying to pull it away from Yuzu's neck, blind to the damage he was likely causing her due to Keiichi's strong grip. "K1! Stop! _Stop!"_

_ K1? Who's that? Who are these people? Leave me alone, I'm __**busy.**_

"You're going to kill her! For the love of God, stop!" Atsuro cried. He stopped as he caught sight of Keiichi's eyes, and his face blanched. "Y-Your eyes, they're—"

_"_Abel, _stop!"_

Keiichi froze. Naoya took advantage of this momentary freeze to run over to Keiichi and grab him rather awkwardly by the wrists. For a moment, nothing happened, and then Keiichi's hands spasmed and he let go of Yuzu. Naoya shoved Keiichi away from her so he couldn't grab her again. Keiichi slammed up against the wall, and Yuzu gave a few coughs as fresh air rushed into her lungs. She was holding her arms up against her breasts, trying to cover the rip Keiichi had made in her blouse. She gave a few quiet sobs.

"K1, what—"

"I think you should go," Naoya said to Atsuro and Yuzu. Atsuro didn't hesitate, and grabbed Yuzu by the arm.

"Let's get out of here," he said to Yuzu before dragging her along with him. Keiichi was backed up against the wall, one hand in front of his face.

"Oh… oh god…" Keiichi said to himself, not caring who heard. Naoya looked at him for a moment.

"Abel, you need to go back into your room," Naoya said. He was looking his brother in the eyes. This wasn't Keiichi, and right now, it wasn't the demon Abel, either. It was his little brother. His easily manipulated little brother. The very fact that his little brother was prominent right now meant that breaking point he had been awaiting and dreading had been hit.

Keiichi shuddered at Naoya's words, and gave a small little nod. He didn't seem all there as he stumbled back toward his hospital room and closed the door behind him. He stood there with his back to the door for a while before walking toward his bed and sitting down in it. He looked over at the window again, and stared at his reflection.

The pupils of his eyes were slitted, like a cat's. Or more accurately, a demon's.

_Oh. That's why Yuzu and Atsuro kept going on about my eyes._

Keiichi looked down at his hands. He'd nearly killed Yuzu. If Cain hadn't stopped him, he would have killed them all. He knew he would have. The fact that he'd thought of Naoya by the name in his first life didn't even occur to him as odd right now. He only continued to stare at his hands.

"…Oh god. I'm so fucked up."

* * *

Atsuro didn't look back a single time, and only continued to run. His grip was iron on Yuzu's arm, and he didn't stop running until they were outside in the courtyard in front of the hospital. He finally slowed down once they were outside, and pulled Yuzu over to a bench. He sat her down before sitting down next to her. Yuzu was still sobbing, however quietly. Atsuro put a hand on her back in an attempt to comfort her. Yuzu flinched and looked up at Atsuro. She hiccupped.

"Wh-why…"

"I don't know," Atsuro said. "There's something wrong with K1. Something that's changed the way he thinks. Something that's turned him into some kind of monster."

"….B-Bel…" Yuzu hiccupped. "Th-This is all my fault… I wouldn't believe him, a-and he got m-m-mad, and th-then…"

Had that been what had caused it? Atsuro didn't think so. No, it seemed more likely this had started a long time ago. K1 had changed when the Shomonkai kidnapped him, that much was for sure. Whatever change they had induced him had reached its boiling point when Yuzu denied him. "Bel," Yuzu had said. There wasn't much denying what that meant. Atsuro couldn't help but remember when K1 had absorbed Beldr. K1 had collapsed to his knees, and for a moment, a strange and unexplainable fear had appeared in Atsuro's mind. He'd been afraid that K1 was going to leave them for some reason.

….No, this had all begun long before the Shomonkai had kidnapped K1. In fact, it almost sounded like this was bound to happen. K1 had absorbed the energies of several demons, after all. It made sense his mind would be affected. It made sense he would be a demon now.

Atsuro pulled Yuzu to him in an embrace. It was one of comfort, not one out of any sort of love. Atsuro loved Yuzu, yeah, but it was as a friend. But like hell he was going to sit here and let her cry her eyes out just because he didn't want people to think he liked Yuzu. She'd nearly been killed by the guy she had a crush on, for God's sake!

"It's going to be okay," Atsuro said softly. "It's going to be okay, Yuzu… K1's gonna snap out of it eventually, and then he'll be sorry, and everything will be okay again… okay?"

Yuzu hiccupped again. "…What's happening to him…?"

"…I don't know," Atsuro admitted. He pulled Yuzu tighter, and the two of them sat together on the bench for a very long time. Neither of them noticed Amane approaching. The girl's face was serious. She could tell just from Yuzu and Atsuro's expressions that something had gone very wrong.

"What happened?" Amane asked. Yuzu and Atsuro both flinched, and Atsuro turned toward Amane.

"…K1 hurt Yuzu," Atsuro said. Amane narrowed her gaze before turning away and looking toward the front doors of the hospital.

"I see," Amane said, and then walked through the front doors of the hospital. Atsuro raised an eyebrow at her. Why was she going in there…? To see K1? His eyes widened and he jumped up off of the bench, running through the doors before they could fully close. He ran up to Amane and put a hand on her shoulder, and she turned around to look at him.

"Wait! Now's not a good time to see him, he's not in a good mood!" Atsuro yelled. Amane brushed Atsuro's hand off of her shoulder.

"Kihara-san, stay here with Tanikawa-san," Amane said. She continued on into the hospital, not looking back once. Atsuro stared after Amane before turning around and going back through the doors and toward Yuzu. He sat back down beside her. Yuzu's tears had stopped, but every now and then she would give a dry sob. Atsuro said nothing. He knew that whatever Amane was doing, she was putting her life on the line to do it. And here he was, listening to her and just sitting by Yuzu. Atsuro couldn't help but think he was a little too dumb to live at that thought.

* * *

Keiichi grasped his head in his hands. So many thoughts were roiling throughout his head. So many horrible, horrible, painful thoughts. His fragmented memories were starting to come together, and the more he tried to push them away, the more they cut at him. He remembered a world where the only people were him and his brother and Mother and Father. He remembered the sheep. He remembered Naoya _(Cain)_ killing him.

_He killed you._

He remembered being approached by Cain. He remembered the rams horn club hitting him in the face. He remembered staring up at his brother's rage filled eyes and all he could think was _Why?_

He remembered being torn to pieces. He felt that sensation down in his very soul, the sensation of having his essence shattered and spread to the four corners of the earth. He didn't know why. All he knew was now his memories and fragments were coming together again. He gave another wince of pain. His entire body hurt so much, and he just wanted it to stop. He just wanted everything in the whole world to stop.

_Why are you in this pain?_

That was a simple question. He was in this pain because he'd been tortured by days on end by the Shomonkai in an effort to bring out a demon that was now part of him. How that was even possible was beyond him. He was a human wasn't he?

_Ah, but that's not true._

Calling himself human would be like calling a platypus a bird. They may look similar, but they were totally different n the inside. He was just a demon wearing a human shell now. Weren't those eyes proof enough?

He'd never wanted any of this. He'd just wanted everything to be _normal_ again. But those Shomonkai bastards had awakened his demonic instincts, and now that voice that had driven him to attack Yuzu before was even more enticing than before. He'd just wanted to be normal, and then the Shomonkai had gone and fucked things up.

_Who ordered the Shomonkai to kidnap you? Who told them killing you would release Belberith?_

Who had ordered his kidnapping? How was Abel supposed to know that? He had been an unwilling sacrifice. But that woman… that _woman…_

_**The angels.**_

He lifted his hands from his head. The angels were behind it all. It was all the angels' faults. They'd been afraid of him, so they'd tricked the Shomonkai into kidnapping him, and then given them a false ritual that would supposedly release Belberith but would in truth kill him. Another certainty clicked into place in Abel's mind. _Another ordeal was coming._ The thought had come easily, and Abel didn't even think to protest it. If this ordeal came, it wouldn't matter if humans passed it. They would just keep coming and coming and soon enough humanity would lose its free will.

He felt a throbbing sensation in his chest and grasped the front of his shirt, pulling the cloth tight. He could feel that intense hatred bubbling up inside him again. It was consuming his very being, and it felt _right_ somehow. Whose fault was it that all of this had happened? It was God's. Whose fault was it that he was losing his mind? It was God's. It was that damn bastard that called himself their "creator." He had to do something about this. No, he was _obligated_ to do something about it. It was God who had split him _twice_ to disperse his presence and keep him from ever being able to stop Him. God claimed he was his "favorite" child, but He said that to every little human he wanted to follow him, didn't He?

He began to chuckle, and the dark chuckle was not unlike that of a person whose mind was finally shattering under stress. That was it. That was his purpose in existing. He had to wage a war against God. Cain had been manipulating him and lying to him but he'd been _right._ His very _purpose_ was to hate Him, to the point he'd self-destruct if he didn't.

But first he had to free himself from this room of white.

"I never thought your self control would shatter this completely."

Abel turned. Standing in the doorway of the room was Amane. She hadn't even bothered to change out of her school uniform before coming to visit him. Her expression was serious, and there was an emotion Abel couldn't quite read behind her lavender eyes. Regret? Sorrow? Pity? She took a few steps into the room as Abel stood up from his bed.

"I should have known this would happen. No human can fully control the power of Bel. Though the blame does not fully fall upon you… I should have taken better lengths to control the remnants of my father's organization after the end of the Lockdown. If I had done that, you never would have reawakened to that power and could have lived the remainder of your life as a normal human." She squeezed her eyes shut, and when they reopened, there was a determined look in them. She clenched her hand into a fist and lifted two fingers, concentrating a large amount of magical energy in that hand. She lifted this hand to her chest. "I will seal you away so that the power of Bel may never be awakened again. It is regrettable, but it is the only choice left."

Amane held her hand out, and Abel felt his limbs lock up and his knees give out under him. He hit the ground hard, but he couldn't move a single muscle. Amane took several steps closer, all while Abel gasped and struggled against the unseeable restraints. They didn't remain unseeable for long, forming into cold, metal chains. His eyes widened as a memory that wasn't quite his fell into place. He wasn't the first Bel to be sealed like this. Beldr had been at one point, too. Abel began to feel the first signs of panic set in as his body began to disappear, starting at his fingers. He looked up at Amane again, staring right into her eyes with his own cat-like ones.

"Another ordeal is coming, priestess," Abel said quietly.

"Humanity can survive it without the help of demons," Amane said in response. "We do not need you to defend us from the angels. The aid of demons is what nearly led humanity to damnation in the first place."

"It's not a question of _if_ humanity will lose their free will anymore, but _when,"_ Abel said in response. He couldn't feel his hands anymore. "Even if you pass this coming one, who knows how long humanity can survive."

"If that is the fate of humanity, then so be it," Amane said quite simply. Abel stared at her. She was just going to…

"You fucking _coward,"_ Abel snarled. He began to struggle against the chains even more, even as his body continued to fade away. Amane only continued to stare at him with that same expression, the one he couldn't read.

"I'm sorry," Amane said. That was the moment Abel's rage erupted. His energy flared out from all around him, and Amane's eyes widened as she saw the cracks forming in the chains binding him. She was already taking steps away from him when the metal shattered. Amane let out a yell, and fell back. His power was too much for her to hold back on her own. Abel stood up and gave Amane a flat look before walking over to her. She was trying to scoot away, but he moved faster than she could scoot away, and then grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. She winced as he pulled her up by her collar.

Abel didn't speak, only threw her into a wall. The way he threw her was much like a child would a toy, but the force she hit the wall with was much stronger than any child. There was actually a crater in the wall from where she hit it. Abel only stared at her. His expression was flat.

"What are you going to do to me?" Amane asked. Her voice was without fear. Abel's flat expression slightly changed, and for a moment, the slits in his eyes changed back to normal human pupils. He opened his mouth, and began to speak…

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Atsuro asked. Yuzu didn't look like she even had any more tears to cry.

"…I feel better…" Yuzu said softly. It wasn't the entire truth, Atsuro knew that, but he didn't want to cause Yuzu any more emotional torment than the day's events already had. It was the sound of crashing glass that made Atsuro look up.

"Look out!"

He threw himself over Yuzu just as the glass came crashing down on top of them. For a very slight moment, he caught glimpse of a blue and white blur move overhead, but the falling glass was a bit more of a concern. Once he was sure the glass had stopped falling, he pulled himself up off of Yuzu. He was still a bit shaken.

"You alright?" Atsuro asked Yuzu.

"Uh-huh," Yuzu said. Atsuro looked up at the hospital, and his eyes widened as he realized what window had just broken.

"Hey, wait a minute. Isn't that the window for K1's room?" Atsuro exclaimed. He looked toward Yuzu, and then jumped off of the bench and broke off running. Yuzu's eyes were wide and panicked, and she started running after Atsuro too.

"Atsuro, wait!" she cried, but he didn't slow down a bit, only continuing to run until he had made it up to the room. He bypassed the elevator he usually took; it would take too long to go up an elevator to reach K1's room. By the time he made it up the three flights of stairs he was forced to take, he was exhausted and out of breath.

There was already a crowd gathering around the room, mainly concerned doctors trying to keep people from going in. Atsuro scowled at the growing crowd.

"Atsuro… hang on a minute…" Yuzu gasped out from behind him. Atsuro blinked and wheeled around. He sighed.

"Sorry Yuzu… but what's going on? I can't get through…" Atsuro looked a fair bit pissed off, more at the situation than anything else.

"We need to get you to an examination room, Kuzuryu-san…"

"No… that's quite alright…"

The crowd parted, and Atsuro's eyes widened and Yuzu gave a small gasp. Amane was being led out of the room by a doctor. Her entire body was bruised, and there were cuts on her face and hands. Atsuro and Yuzu both ran over to her.

"Amane, what happened?" Atsuro asked. Amane looked toward the doctor.

"Not here," Amane said. She motioned toward another hallway, and Atsuro and Yuzu both looked rather confused, but still headed that direction. Amane spent another moment telling the doctor she would be fine for five minutes so she could talk to her friends, and then followed them down that hallway. She leaned up against the wall, too weak to stay standing on her own.

"Amane, what happened in there…?" Yuzu asked quietly.

"…I'm afraid Kimura-san has finally succumbed to the demonic power within him," Amane said quietly. "I suspected things when I saw what he had done to Tanikawa-san, but I could not have imagined it would be this bad…" She gave a small cough.

"Hey, maybe you should go to that doctor or something… you look like you're in bad shape—"

"I'll… be fine…" Amane said, silencing Atsuro. She closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to catch her breath. "I'd gone in there to try to seal Kimura-san away before anything worse could happen but… he got the better of me…"

She gave a bitter smile. "…I'm afraid he escaped before I could seal him away. I hadn't wanted to seal your friend away, but I'm afraid there had been no choice by the time I got in there…"

"No…" Yuzu breathed.

"…Before he ran, he said something to me. I believe he wanted me to pass on the message," Amane said. Yuzu and Atsuro both looked up.

"Well, spit it out!" Atsuro said. Amane's expression was pained.

"Please, Amane," Yuzu said quietly. "Please tell us.

"'Help me. Please help me.' That's what he told me."


	5. Finale

_This __is __an __absolute __disaster._

Captain Izuna stepped over the yellow tape and into the hospital room. There was a rather noticeable crater in the wall on her left. The large window on the wall to her front was covered by a tarp, and the way it rippled revealed that there was a large hole in the glass it covered, merely covered so that the cold November wind would not disrupt the contents of the room. To the police, these were all just parts of the crime scene, but to Izuna, they were proof that Keiichi Kimura was no longer human. No human could survive the fall from this third story window. No human could have left a crater in the wall when they threw a certain spiritually powerful maiden against it. It wasn't just his inhuman power that tipped her off. It was his mannerisms. Izuna had forced the hospital to hand over their security tapes of the day of the incident and upon investigating them noticed that something was very wrong with Kimura that day. It started when he exited the room with a girl they had identified as Yuzu Tanikawa. Tanikawa had been visibly nervous, but Kimura had been calm when they exited. Things quickly escalated to an argument, though for what reason, Izuna couldn't tell, and Tanikawa refused to tell them. Soon after the argument began, things got physical. He tore her blouse and soon after tried to strangle her. It was as Tanikawa began to scream that two others exited the room. The other two had clearly been Atsuro Kihara and their favorite traitor, Naoya Kimura. Kihara had panicked, and attempted to pull Kimura away from Tanikawa. After Kihara's attempts failed, Naoya intervened and managed to shove Kimura away from her. Kihara and Tanikawa had stood there for a few moments before Kihara grabbed Tanikawa and ran down the hall with her. Kimura had stumbled back to his room, and after a moment, Naoya had walked away from the scene as well. No staff had intervened during this entire time, a fact that was suspicious in of itself.

A few minutes then passed before Amane Kuzuryu entered Kimura's room. Approximately ten minutes later, several doctors ran to the room after what could be assumed to have been the sound of glass breaking. Kimura never exited his room through the door, meaning he had to have jumped through the window in his room. After looking over security tapes of the courtyard, they had finally caught sight of Kimura on a single frame of footage. The fact that they had been able to find him on that single blurred frame was a testament to his speed. He had been fast enough that a normal camera like the security cameras of the courtyard wouldn't be able to pick him up.

Izuna walked across the room. She took care to not step on anything the police might consider "important" evidence and proceeded to the window. She picked up a piece of glass that had fallen on the ground near it and held it up to her face to examine it. As far as the public was concerned, "Boy A" had planted an explosive in this room that had broken all of the glass and injured "Girl A". "Boy A" had then rappelled down through the window and made a run for it. "Boy A" was also considered extremely dangerous and the public was to call a special hotline to reach the SDF should they see him.

Izuna turned as she heard the sound of the door opening behind her. Entering was an SDF soldier carrying a few papers. Just from his expression, Izuna could tell the news wasn't good.

"Naoya Kimura is missing," the soldier said. "He never returned to his apartment after leaving the hospital yesterday afternoon."

Izuna swore so loudly that the soldier actually took a step back in shock. So this had been all part of that man's plan. It had been foolish to leave him so close to what essentially boiled down to a highly volatile demon, but they hadn't had much of a choice to do anything but believe him at the time. Kimura had trusted him, and at the time, they hadn't known the full extent of his abilities. Even now, all of the intelligence they had was based around the fact that as the King of Bel, he possessed "god-like" power. All of those tests they had done on him had turned up nothing other than an increased healing ability that had absolutely no biological explanation whatsoever.

After interviewing Kimura's parents, Izuna had discovered a few bits of information she wished she had known beforehand, like how the "accident" Naoya's parents had died in occurred not too long after Naoya had met the toddler Keiichi, or, more importantly, how Naoya had been the one who had been left in charge of caring for Keiichi while his parents were at work. That sociopath had likely been manipulating his cousin for the past decade.

She would have to keep the public updated. Perhaps she would mention that Naoya Kimura was believed to have kidnapped "Boy A", and that any sightings of Naoya Kimura were to be reported using the same hotline. At least the man was human. So long as his cousin didn't bring back the demons, he was completely powerless. They couldn't let this situation go on much longer, but least now she knew that wherever Naoya Kimura was at, his cousin would be as well.

"There's been a change of plans. Update the news outlets with information suggesting Naoya Kimura was the one behind the initial explosion and is now believed to have kidnapped Keiichi Kimura. Also add that civilians should call the same hotline if they see Naoya Kimura as well."

"Yes sir."

The soldier gave a bow and exited the room. Izuna looked back toward the broken window. They needed to find Kimura soon. If he had truly become a demon, there was a good chance he might reopen the gate between their world and the demon realm. If that happened, all hell would break loose.

* * *

"How are you feeling?"

Amane looked up toward Atsuro, exposing the large bruise on her face. He winced and looked away from her. Amane turned her head away from Atsuro, a twinge of guilt crossing her expression. She did not answer for a good minute, instead choosing to stare at the small orb of light in her hands. She then nodded and said quietly, "I am able to keep going, if that is what you're wondering."

Which hadn't been what Atsuro asked at all. He didn't like any of this at all; K1 was as far as they knew, gone. There was a citywide search for him, but Atsuro didn't think anyone would find him so long as he didn't want to be found. It was because Amane could at least sense his general location that they were walking through dark alleys and shady parts of town every day after school, and even she couldn't get close enough to where he was before he changed location again.

_Why __do __you __keep __running?_ Atsuro thought to himself. _I __thought __you __wanted __us __to __help __you?_

And then there was Yuzu.

She walked behind the rest other two, always staring at the COMP Amane had asked her to bring. She'd fallen into a state of depression ever since the incident at the hospital. She hardly talked at school, and if her late night texts were any indication, it looked like she was getting into more and more arguments with her mom. She'd probably been harassed by the police too; it was well known that she and K1 were close, and people who were close to the "victim" were always the first to be approached. Atsuro had been spoken to as well, though they hadn't been able to get much out of him. He didn't know how Yuzu had handled the police visit; she wouldn't talk to anyone about it.

He couldn't imagine how she was feeling. She'd always had a closeness toward K1 that Atsuro knew he didn't have. He knew she liked K1 a lot, and he liked Yuzu back, but they'd always been far too nervous about it to actually say anything to each other. And yet K1 had attacked her and run away somewhere, and the best guess they had as to why was because of that "power of Bel". Atsuro wondered if she was thinking about the lockdown again. Maybe she was wondering if they really should have just run away then.

"Hey Yoohoo, you should walk a little faster!" Atsuro called. "I don't have as good a view if you keep lagging back there."

"…Huh…?" She looked up. "Wait, what was that supposed to mean?" Another few seconds passed as the meaning of his words set in. "Agh! You would want to see that wouldn't you, Pervtsuro!"

"Ooh, Pervtsuro. That's a new one."

"Don't take it like it's some kind of compliment!"

Amane giggled, causing both Atsuro and Yuzu to look in her direction. She appeared to have deactivated whatever spell allowed her to sense K1's location, because her hands no longer glowed with the light. A soft smile had appeared on her face.

"I can see now why he is friends with you two. There is a kind of warmth you two radiate… I only wish I truly understood it," she said.

Atsuro frowned. Was she saying she didn't have any friends? Come to think of it, he never had seen Amane doing much of anything after school. "If you wanted to hang out with us, you should have asked! K1's enough of a pushover he wouldn't care. Besides, I'm sure he'd welcome another girl in the group."

"Oh, no, you really don't need to bother…"

"Yeah, come on!" Yuzu encouraged, her face slightly brighter. Now that was more like the Yuzu he knew. "We don't bite, really! Well, Pervtsuro might."

"H-Hey! Now that one was just cruel…"

And then Atsuro saw the tears welling up in Amane's eyes. She lifted an arm and wiped them into her uniform's sleeves, and she began to laugh.

"Thank you…"

"W-What are you thanking us for?" Yuzu asked. "We didn't really do much of anything…"

Amane shook her head again, laughing and crying at the same time. Atsuro elbowed Yuzu. "Let her cry a bit. I think she really needed this."

It took another minute for Amane's tears to stop. She lowered her arm from her face and looked to them, and while it was once again serious, there was a new light in her expression.

"I look forward to spending time with you once this is all solved," Amane said with a slight bow. "We should continue our search for Kimura-san." She held her hand up and formed another white ball of light.

Atsuro nodded. "Right, let's go."

* * *

_"__Demon!__"_

She tore down the alleyway, her chest rising and falling in a steady, fast-paced rhythm. Her body, blood, and soul were all human; but the otherworldly aura about her belied the truth— it was an angel, a servant of the God he so despised, who had possessed a human so she could much more easily observe the matters of the surface world. He was faster, and in the space of a few seconds he had overtaken her. She stopped and pivoted on one foot, attempting to change direction and run the other way. His arm lashed out and caught her by the neck before she could escape. It was always quite interesting how these angels would always use female forms when they masqueraded as humans, even when it was an angel that identified as male. It made them so much easier to track down, too. The angel struggled against his grasp, her cries echoing down the alleyways. It didn't matter to him. He brought his mouth to her ear and spoke into it.

"You can keep screaming if you want, but no one can hear you. I've made sure of that."

"Y-You… We knew this would happen," the angel spoke through her gasps. "Our Lord had faith in you, but He was _wrong_…"

He laughed, a cold dark laugh devoid of any kind of emotion. Wasn't implying that God could even possibly make a mistake a heresy? He brought their faces close together. The angel's eyes glistened with fear, but he knew she wouldn't beg for mercy. She was far too prideful for that; all angels were. He lifted his hand from her neck, fingers tracing his way up her windpipe until he reached her chin, which he seized. He jerked her chin up so that their eyes met; scared, weak, fear-filled human eyes to clouded, unblinking, unfeeling demon eyes.

"Where is Cain?"

"If we knew, we'd have killed him by now," she choked out.

"Liar."

He placed his hand on her forehead and shoved it back. Her skull shattered against the brick, leaving a bloody splatter of bone and brain. He dropped her, and she crumpled uselessly to the ground. The sense of spiritual energy faded from the area, a sign that the angel had died as well. Another dead end. He began to feel a dull headache, and put a hand on his head. He needed to find his brother. He hadn't decided yet what he'd do with Cain once he found him, but he knew that he needed to find him.

_Kill __them __all._

The angel's deaths were necessary. Even with the innocent blood of their hosts on his hands, they were necessary deaths. He lowered his hand from his head and held both that hand and his other so that he could see his palms. Dried blood caked them, remnants of past kills. A throb of regret shook his body, and he lowered his hands to his sides. He needed to focus. Find Cain. Decide how to move on from there. He rested his back against the side of a building and closed his eyes. _Focus._ Ignore the blood on your hands and the feeling of bones breaking under your touch. Ignore that stench of stiffening muscle and excrement.

He shoved himself away from the wall. It was always difficult, but he could push past it. The inevitable breakdown could come after he found Cain. So long as he could hold onto himself until then, he'd be okay. He began to walk down the alley. Another pang of emotion shook him, and he stumbled, causing him to fall against the wall once again.

He couldn't do this.

_Let __go._

This was wrong.

_Embrace __yourself._

He raised a hand up to the headphones on his head and lightly touched them. The feeling of the cold plastic somehow soothed him, and his rapidly-beating heart began to slow. They were a hold on his sanity, his _humanity,_ that part of him wished to destroy. His hand slipped from the headphones to the bandages on his face. He pulled the cloth away and dropped it to the ground, next to the angel's corpse. Slowly he began to move down the path and away from her, and once he was far enough away from her, his troublesome human emotions quieted once more.

* * *

"Your brother has been busy."

The rather fancily dressed man tossed a magazine at Naoya's face. Naoya caught it in midair before it could impact and gave the man an annoyed look before looking down at the cover. It was an magazine of the least respectable type; the kind that ran stories of Elvis being spotted marrying some cow-mutilating alien and whichever cult was rising to prominence to steal your children and sacrifice to Satan or Shiva or whichever major deity they'd borrowed from a major world faith this week and secret government conspiracies that turned the devices you use every day into weapons of mass destruction. This week's front story was all about the strange murders that had been occurring all over Tokyo. People were being found dead, usually in secluded alleys in the dark parts of town you shouldn't walk in anyways, and usually from some kind of trauma to the neck or chest or head. None of this was news to Naoya; conventional news broadcasters had been covering this for the past week. Somewhat intrigued to what this magazine's take on the subject would be, Naoya opened it up to the respective article. Naturally enough, the magazine had chosen to blame the government.

Most interesting to Naoya was the name of the author of the article. A certain Meiko Shoji had written this; the same Meiko Shoji who had initially reported on his brother's disappearance, and if he remembered right (and Naoya held a lot of faith in his memories), the exact same Meiko Shoji who had aided his brother during the lockdown. Her writing, so stagnant and factual in her newspaper articles, was so delightfully conspiracy filled here, belitting the government at every turn. It was this kind of fanatical devotion to the idea of an improbable conspiracy controlling this country's every movement that had allowed her to see the truth hidden beneath the mainstream media's censorship. She would either be silenced or removed soon with these kinds of writings. Her writing strayed too close to the truth for the government's tastes.

Ms. Shoji wouldn't know the truth of the matter, though. As much as she'd pieced together the details between her raging about the government and wild conspiracy theories, she couldn't make the connection that the explosion at the hospital and subsequent disappearance of Keiichi Kimura was connected to all of the recent murders. She lacked the information Naoya possessed of the situation. She couldn't know that the murders were not a government cover-up, but a recently awakened demon testing his new powers on the angels that remained in the human realm after the end of the Lockdown. The only reason there weren't more dead was because something of Keiichi remained. The killings satiated his demonic side's hunger for blood, and Keiichi justified them by saying that they were necessary for whatever his goal was. Keiichi was kind, far kinder than Naoya knew the demon Abel would be. The only thing holding Keiichi together now was Abel's strength. The moment Keiichi realized just what he was doing, he would break, and the demon would be all that remained.

He grimaced at the thought, the first time an expression had managed to break his mask since Loki had pulled him away to this godforsaken love hotel in the middle of Tokyo's red light district. The emotion was enough to catch the attention of the purple-suited man sitting on the bed. He gave Naoya an amused smile and met Naoya's eyes. They remained locked in a silent fight for dominance until Loki willingly broke it off by absently looking toward the window, shaded by a red velvet curtain at Naoya's request. He chuckled and folded one hand over the other before turning toward Naoya, his head bent forward ever so slightly so he could observe the man better.

"What's wrong? The news wasn't _that_ upsetting, was it?" There was a hint of mocking to Loki's tone, slightly masked by a sound of almost compassion. Naoya didn't respond, though as usual, this only served to encourage Loki. There wasn't much he could do that _wouldn__'__t_ encourage him. The demon moved behind the red velvet couch and crouched down so he was on level with Naoya's head.

"Your brother's doing just what you want him to do." The demon's breath was cold in Naoya's ear, and Naoya couldn't help but flinch away a bit from it. "You should relax a little… Though, I suppose you'd prefer him over me, wouldn't you?" The demon's voice changed slightly toward the end, moving away from the suave, more adult voice to a slightly deeper, yet younger voice.

Naoya stood up from the couch and walked away from him. "You're disgusting." As he turned to face Loki, he saw the tips of the demon's hair shift from blue to the black color Loki preferred for his human form.

"No, I guess you wouldn't find that very funny at all, would you." Loki moved out from behind the couch, and for a moment, Naoya thought the demon was going to approach him again. He was grateful that Loki instead sat down on the couch in the spot he'd been before.

Naoya continued moving to the other side of the room, never once taking his gaze off of Loki. Now that he was moving, he realized just how restless he felt, and was unable to sit down again. He was tired of being stuck here, safely concealed from the SDF and God's own little servants until that moment when it would be most "beneficial" for him to leave. His patience was gone, already worn down by being brought here against his will the moment his brother gave in. Insisting that it was to "protect" him did nothing for Naoya; he knew it was merely so Loki could enjoy himself and feed on the chaos that ensued outside.

"Are you having regrets?" Naoya jerked his head toward the demon, an uncommon glare chancing his features. "You are merely reaping what you have sown. That crop you have tended for so long has finally come to fruit."

"Go to hell," Naoya snarled. Loki's grin only widened, and the demon uncrossed its legs. It turned its palms upwards and shrugged.

"As you wish." And suddenly, the oppressive presence about the room vanished, and Loki with it. The demon was just gone, with nothing to say he'd been there in the first place.

Naoya ran to the door, and the knob that would not turn mere moments before moved smoothly, as if it had been oiled. The door swung open, and Naoya ran outside into the hallway as quickly as his geta would allow him to. He did not stop to consider the circumstances of his freedom, and merely ran down the halls of the hotel until he reached the entrance. He began to compose himself as he approached the reception area. He calmly walked up to the receptionist, and explained that he and his "partner" had decided to check out. She made her obligatory comment about Naoya and his partner, and he chuckled, giving a comment about how comfortable the beds were and that he would consider using their services again. Her nervous response wasn't unexpected, as despite the business she helped run, that sexuality was outside the norm. Once he finished with their small talk, Naoya checked himself and his "partner" out of the hotel, and then proceeded into the streets. He almost immediately ducked into an alley and once he was sure he was out of sight, he pulled his COMP out from his haori.

When Naoya had been commissioned to create the demon summoning program by the Shomonkai, he'd also been asked to create a seperate program for tracking the location of every COMP loaded with the base program. When Naoya created Keiichi and his friends' COMPs, he'd loaded the same programs onto them, with a single exception: their tracking program did not run through the Shomonkai's server. Instead, it ran through a separate server located elsewhere in Japan, allowing it to run even after the summoning server had been deactivated. That program had allowed Naoya to track Keiichi's location even after Atsuro and Yuzu stopped carrying their comps. Despite the COMPs now being useless, Keiichi had continued to keep his COMP with him, almost as a "security blanket". Perhaps he'd feared that the demons would return someday.

The screen came up, showing a detailed map of Tokyo and four dots, each marked with the COMP's owner's username. A stationary one read "NAOYA". Then, only a few blocks away, two slow moving dots appeared on the screen, labeled "AT-LOW" and "YUZ" respectively. That was quite strange. In the months since the end of the Lockdown, Naoya had not seen those usernames appear on this screen even once. It was possible they wished to use the Harmonizer to try and protect themselves. Finally, there was a single quickly moving dot, labeled "K1". This dot was moving on a direct path to intersect that of Atsuro and Yuzu. The way his brother's friends were moving was strange; they slowly changed direction every few seconds, like they were unsure of their path. Someone was most likely leading them to Keiichi. That someone was very likely Amane, as it had been painfully obvious from the newspaper reports that she was the "Girl A" that Keiichi's "kidnapper" had attacked before stealing Keiichi away.

He could use Amane. SHe possessed spiritual powers that could lead her to Abel or him to her; if he stayed with her, they'd cross paths eventually. She wouldn't dare kill him; her powers or the angels would warn her of his curse. Atsuro still idolized him at least somewhat, and that would be enough to keep Yuzu in check.

Following the COMP's tracker, he began to make his way to that group. He would find Abel, and once he found him…

Well, he'd cross that bridge when he got there.

* * *

Soon after they'd started walking again, Yuzu had fallen behind Atsuro and Amane once more. She was thankful for Atsuro's attempts, if vulgar, to cheer her up, but she couldn't stay happy. Not with the reason they were wandering aroudn these dark and dirty parts of town. She wished they could just find K1 now, before anything else could happen.

Abruptly, Amane stopped, and turned back around toward Atsuro and Yuzu. She looked alarmed. Had something gone wrong? As Yuzu opened her mouth to ask, Amane screwed her face up in concentration, and the ball of light grew brighter. The odd frustration on Amane's face confused Yuzu; it was odd to see her so unsure. This had come out of nowhere, too.

"Amane…?" Yuzu asked quietly.

"I can't find him…" Amane said quietly. "He just disappeared. I can sense that he's near, but I can't pinpoint just where."

"How is that…"

"Shh!" Atsuro said sharply. Amane and Yuzu both fell quiet. A clopping noise sounded down the alley, slowly getting closer to them. It was vaguely familiar, but Yuzu couldn't place where she'd heard it before. She realized just how obvious it should have been when the owner of those footsteps stepped around the corner, wearing an all too familiar black and green robe.

"N-Nao—"

"What have you done with K1? !" Yuzu yelled, cutting Atsuro off before he could even get the words out. She wanted to punch Naoya. She wanted to do more than that. _He_ was the one responsible for everything that had happened to K1. If it hadn't been for him, the lockdown wouldn't have happened, because the Shomonkai wouldn't have had their _precious_ summoning server. If it hadn't been for the lockdown, K1 wouldn't have had to be forced into that stupid war. If K1 hadn't been forced to become the King of Bel, none of this would be happening to him now.

She ran at Naoya, fist drawn back to punch him. He did not move until she was nearly close enough to hit him. He brought his hand down quickly and pulled her wrist to the side and away from his body. He then twisted her arm at an angle that meant Yuzu couldn't pull it away without injuring herself. He did not let go of her, even as she began to cry out in pain.

"I'm not particularly in the mood to deal with your little search and rescue team," Naoya growled. He turned toward Amane. "As much as I would prefer to avoid working with you, I require your help to find Abel."

Amane's expression became flat. "Please release Tanikawa-san." The order did not bring Naoya's usual smirk, and he released Yuzu without any argument. She backed away only a few steps before charging at Naoya again. Atsuro caught Yuzu this time, pulling her back by her arm.

"Yuzu, chill," Atsuro warned. "Let's see what he wants first."

She ground her teeth, her anger only growing as she stared at this _bastard_ who had ruined all of their lives. She wanted him dead, she wanted him gone, she wanted the police to just come along and find them and arrest him before he could do anything else, anything to just punish him in some way for everything he'd done.

"Unfortunately, I could not tell you Kimura-san's whereabouts," Amane continued. "He vanished just as we reached this spot. You have gained nothing by coming to us." Naoya pulled a COMP from his pocket and flicked the screen open. His expression remained flat.

"No, he's simply hiding. You're in the right spot... but once he realizes I'm here, he'll reveal himself… won't you, _brother?__"_

At that word, it was almost like a switch had been flicked over the area, some pressure no one had noticed lifted. Soft, slow footsteps came from around the corner behind Amane. The footsteps' owner quickly revealed himself, stopping behind the maiden and staring at the four with dead, inhuman, cat-pupiled eyes.

Keiichi Kimura had finally been found.

* * *

Yuzu.

Yuzu and Atsuro and Amane. They were all there. He'd had a few close calls with them over the past few days. The human part of him did not want them to see what he'd done. They'd been lucky to never come across any of his work. He hadn't wanted to see them either, and then he realized that if he really wanted to, he'd become all but invisible to everyone around him.

But they'd managed to catch up with him. So he'd become imperceptible. He'd wait for them to pass on by. He was so tired.

But then he heard Cain's voice. The demons writhing within him became active at that moment, and Keiichi no longer had the energy to hold them back and calm them. It was easier now to let his demon side direct his tired, dying body. He was pulled up and he began to move toward Cain's voice. An excitement began to fill him, overcoming all of his contradictory feelings of fear and sadness and anger and happiness.

He allowed himself to be seen. He was sure his appearance alarmed the others. Yuzu looked close to tears and Atsuro just looked shocked. Amane's expression was nothing but infuriating pity toward him. Something else flickered across Cain's face, moving too quick for him to see.

"K1! Where the hell have you been? !" Atsuro called out.

The words spilled from Keiichi's mouth, but they were all Abel's. _"__Leave. __I __only __want __to __talk __to __Cain.__"_

"What is that supposed to mean? K1, calm down!"

"Atsuro, just go!" Keiichi yelled. "I don't want to hurt you!" They were obstacles to his ultimate goal of Cain. The demon Abel knew that it would need Cain for its revenge, and it knew that Yuzu and Amane were opposed to these goals. It was less sure on Atsuro, but after attacking Yuzu at the hospital, there was no doubt that he'd turned his friend against him.

"Oh come on K1, that's the most cliché line in the book!" But as Atsuro spoke, Keiichi could see the others preparing; Atsuro reaching into his pocket for his COMP, Yuzu taking a couple of steps back, Amane's hands glowing with a white light. Only Cain didn't do anything differently, remaining where he was, silent, beckoning. Atsuro had no idea what he was doing; how he was acting exactly like how Yuzu had when he tried to explain to her what had happened. How his best friend was _denying_ him.

He ran to Atsuro at a blinding speed and grasped him by the neck. A vile grin spread across his face, relishing the pain Atsuro was in, a purple bruise spreading across Atsuro's neck as he squeezed. He could hear bones cracking under his grip. He could just _imagine_ the pain Atsuro was in. If it hadn't been for the Harmonizer, Atsuro would have been dead by now. The others were screaming, Yuzu's voice resonating over Amane's, but he did not mind. But it wouldn't be much longer now… Atsuro's eyes rolled back in his head. Abel released his neck, and he crumpled to the ground.

Unfortunately, Atsuro was breathing, even with his wounds. Cain's program worked quite well, preventing death despite the severity of the wounds. He would have to commend him for that later. Yuzu began to back away from Atsuro's body, her speeding breaths telling Abel that she was hyperventilating. Delicious fear leaked from her body, flooding his body with adrenaline. He'd kill her last. _(stop)_ Flames began to dance about his fingers, wheeling around each digit, coming close to his body, but never enough to singe. _(these __are __your __friends)_ He turned toward Amane, grinning now, overcome by his emotions. He'd found Cain now; _(you __can__'__t __please)_ he didn't need to hold back anymore, he could let those demonic emotions run free and slaughter them all, everyone who was a tie to his humanity, everyone except Cain.

Amane raised one glowing white hand, her face still filled with pity _(you __asked __her __to __help)_. Glowing white chains flew out from her palm, but he knew this trick this time around, and he knew what to expect. Before the chains could even come close, he brought his hand up, sending the tendrils of flame toward Amane. Midflight, they collided and became a large fireball that then struck her and exploded out. It sent Amane flying into a wall. She cracked every brick she hit, but it was not enough to knock her out like he had been able to with Atsuro. Well, she always had been more stubborn. The flames dissipated, replaced by the same kind of glowing white energy Amane had been using mere minutes ago. He began to take slow steps toward her, the almighty energy crackling from his fingertips, begging, pleading to be used, to kill, to slaughter.

Abel did not hear Yuzu's breathing begin to slow; he had no way of predicting that she would decide at that moment to pull away from the wall and run to him, pulling him into a tight embrace. _(stop)_ She buried her _(stop __it) __(stop)_ head in his chest, which was now slowly _(stop __it __stop __it __stop __stop __stop)_ getting wet from her tears soaking into his shirt. She reached up and pulled the cloth tight in her fists .

"K1, please stop…" she pleaded _(look __what __you__'__ve __done)_. "This isn't like you at all… You're not the kind of person who would just kill others like this, you're nicer than that. You're the nicest guy I've ever met… so please, please…" _(stop __talking)_ "I don't want you to be like this…" (stop)

He remained standing awkwardly in place, shock beginning to overwhelm him as his sanity returned. The white energy around his hands dissipated, his concentration gone. He looked around at the alley. Atsuro was unconscious. Amane was fighting to stay awake. Yuzu was embracing him in some futile attempt to calm him. Naoya was just standing at the end of the alley, doing nothing, just watching. He looked down at his hands, and for the first time, he noticed the blood coating them.

His legs felt heavy, far too heavy for him to support. They crumpled out from under him and he fell to the ground, sitting with his legs sprawled out under him like a fallen schoolgirl. Yuzu came down with him, still embracing him all the while. She really believed that would keep him calm. Maybe she was right, just for that little bit of time. He knew he didn't have much time now. The world span around him every time he so much as twitched his head, and he almost felt too weak to even talk. Every moment he was Keiichi, the voice of the demon inside him got louder and louder.

He returned Yuzu's embrace and pulled her close to him, the most he could do at the moment. She looked up into his face, saw his now human eyes, and responded by squeezing him tighter. It was almost enough to make him laugh.

"Yuzu…"

"You're back now…"

"Yeah."

He sat there, holding Yuzu, not saying anything, when Naoya spoke up. "Abel, I'll be waiting at my apartment. Come when you're ready." He could hear Naoya walking away now, leaving him alone with his friends and his memories.

The memories were too much to bear. His self-control was broken; he was nothing more than a wild dog. He realized now exactly what he'd been doing. He'd murdered people. He wouldn't allow himself to use the excuse that it was the demons, not him, because it was mostly a lie. After all, he was just a demon in human form. Those demonic instincts were far stronger than he could be. If he didn't give in, he'd go mad. They'd force him to do things he couldn't stand again, for the sake of revenge he couldn't be sure if he supported or not. And it wasn't even a split personality issue, because deep down, this was him, this was _Abel_, and now that he'd awakened, Keiichi Kimurawas a part of Abel. Except Keiichi Kimura was the part of Abel that Abel didn't need.

And now he realized what was happening to him, why he felt so weak, why he was in so much pain, despite sustaining no injuries.

"Come on K1… let's just go home," Yuzu whispered. "You don't need to do this anymore…"

"Yuzu… I'm… I'm dying."

He spoke softly, with a kind of fearful wonder as the realization hit. Yuzu jerked her head up to look at his face, her eyes wide with fear.

"…What?"

"I'm sorry… I can't hold on much longer. I thought maybe I could rein Abel in, but I was wrong. He's too strong… I can't keep doing the things Abel wants. So he's wiping me away."

"Please no…" Yuzu tugged harder on Keiichi's shirt. "You don't need to do this! You're stronger than that, K1! So come on, don't lie to me like that!"

He smiled, just a bit. "I'm glad you think that… but you know I'm a terrible liar."

Yuzu was crying again, and the sweater he wore was starting to feel uncomfortably itchy as a result. He gently caressed her back, in an effort to calm her, but she only sobbed harder and harder into his chest.

"Please, Keiichi…" She used his name, not his nickname, but his _actual_ name, and it caused Keiichi to choke up from the tears that were now gathering in his own eyes. "Please… I love you."

He just nodded a small bit and said, quietly, "I know. I loved you too."

This was cruel; it would have been better if he just left, so she wouldn't have to go through this pain. But at the same time, he had his own selfish requests he wanted to ask of her. His last requests, so to speak.

"Yuzu… stay with me while I die," Keiichi's voice became choked by the growing tears, and it was all he could do to stop from breaking down sobbing then and there. "Please… I don't want to die alone."

She honored his request. They stayed together, embracing each other for several minutes. After a while, it became the two of them crying into each other's shoulders. Keiichi let himself forget that Amane and Atsuro were even there. The former had fallen unconscious at some point, having lost her fight to stay awake. The chain holding Keiichi there continued to splinter and fall away. The world began to grow dim around him, and Yuzu's sobs were growing further and further apart from him. The urge to close his eyes, to fall asleep, to give in, became stronger with every passing moment. He wanted to let go. He closed his eyes.

When they opened once more, Abel pulled away from Yuzu and left her on the ground. She cried something out, but he ignored it. There was no need to remember his human attachments any more.

"Goodbye," he said quietly, and he walked away from the girl and her friends, leaving them alone now that he had no use for them. He began to walk to Aoyama, taking a slow path to the apartments Cain awaited him at. He knew now what he would do.

When he arrived, Cain stood in front of the apartments, a woman with orange hair standing there, a gun pointed at him.

"I finally found you," the woman said. "To think you'd return to your apartment, even knowing we'd be watching it. You either have a lot of gall or you're incredibly stupid. Where's the kid?"

"You should put your gun down, Izuna-san. You wouldn't want to do anything you'd regret," Cain said. He looked over Izuna's shoulder, acknowledging Abel's presence, but not saying anything. There seemed to be a silent command to his look. Abel understood it well enough and nodded.

"You think I'm just going to let you run free after all of this? ! No… for the safety of this country, I will take matters into my own hands, and—"

A bolt of Almighty energy shot through Izuna's chest, cutting cleanly through her heart. She fell to the ground, dead before she even knew what hit her. The younger of the brothers walked toward Cain, his face emotionless, staring up into Cain's face.

"So… have you come to kill me, or to ask my help, brother?"

"You killed me before," Abel said quietly. "I find it hard to trust you. But even so, I want your help."

"Very good," Cain nodded his affirmation. "Then let us leave this place, before anyone happens to come across our friend here."

He moved to the side so that his geta weren't stained by the growing puddle of blood on the ground. Abel turned away and snapped his fingers. Energy around Tokyo that had been in place since the end of the Lockdown simply vanished, and the air suddenly became heavy, a vortex of fire forming the sky. Somewhere, someone screamed. Abel held out a hand to Cain. For a split second, the man hesitated, but he took Abel's hand anyways. The demon king closed his eyes, and after a flash of light, they were gone, and the red vortex with it. The sky became a cool autumn sunset once more. Keiichi Kimura and Naoya Kimura simply vanished from the world, never to return.

* * *

A/N: Epilogue will be posted within the next week.


	6. Epilogue

_10 Years Later_

There was a bar in Omotesando; not a very special bar, for the drinks were rather average and the patrons were all the same salaryman types who went there to unwind after a hard day's work. Once a band called D-Va had played gigs there, but that time was behind them now, the band having broken up a few years back. The owner and bartender, Eiji Kamiya (though most people called him Gin) stood behind the bar inside, absentmindedly cleaning a cup. Tonight was a bit of a slow night, and the chill of the oncoming winter would keep patrons away for at least a couple of weeks. He soon found himself looking up at the television on the wall, where the news was blaring away.

_"—__In __local__ news, __the__ case__ of__ missing __Nakano __teenager __Keiichi__ Kimura __has__ been__ closed__ today__ after __10 __years __of __searching.__"_

_ "There's a point where old family photos on missing posters simply won't work anymore. Assuming Kimura's even alive, he'd be completely unrecognizable now."_

"_Kimura went missing after an explosion in a Shinjuku hospital ten years ago. He had been kidnapped and tortured by a cult known as the Shomonkai merely a week before his second disappearance, and at the time it was believed that they were involved in his disappearance. However, a sharp decline in Shomonkai activities during that time…"_

"Damn," Gin said quietly. "It's really been 10 years?"

The news story continued, showing clips of interviews with Keiichi's family and discussing the events surrounding his disappearance. A few patrons who had been watching the televisions began to talk among themselves. It seemed that a surprisingly large number of them had been classmates of Keiichi's, yet from the way they talked about him, very few had actually known him. Most of them knew him as "that classmate who went missing during second year". It disgusted Gin, but he chose to remain silent, so as to not chase any customers off.

The bell on the door rang as it swung open. Gin turned to the door, only to see a rather familiar face, her hair pulled back by a scarf he hadn't seen her wear in years. He pulled a remote out from under the bar and changed the channel on the television. A few patrons yelled at him, but Gin chose to ignore them in favor of who had just walked in. Yuzu fell into her seat, an exhausted look on her face. She wore a black formal jacket and a plain black skirt. A wedding ring on her hand glimmered in the dim light of the bar. Gin narrowed his eyes at the scarf once she got close. That was definitely that same scarf from all those years ago, the one she'd stopped wearing after Keiichi disappeared. She fell into her seat at the bar, an exhausted look on her face.

"I didn't know you were back in town." Gin said. "Do you want your usual?"

She nodded. "Could you get me two?"

"Buying for someone else?"

"Yeah."

He poured a couple of beers and placed them in front of her. She muttered a small thanks before beginning to drink from one. She didn't even glance at the other beer as she proceeded to drink her own down rather quickly and then ask for a refill soon after. Gin halfheartedly did so. She then began to go at that one a bit faster than he would have liked. Yuzu knew she couldn't hold her liquor at all, so it was unusual for her to just come and drink like this. After drinking half of that drink, she said, "I can't believe it's been ten years."

"Since the lockdown?"

She hesitated for a moment, and while her answer was to Gin's question, he was sure that she'd been thinking of something else. "…Yeah." She gulped down more of the drink. "Everyone's changed so much since then."

Gin silently nodded. He didn't stay in contact with everyone from the lockdown, but he still saw some people regularly. Kaido had broken up his brother's gang a few years back, and the power vacuum that had ensued meant it still wasn't quite safe to go walking around the dark parts of Shibuya . D-Va had broken up as well, though Haru was going strong as an independent singer these days. And without him, as she'd so strongly insisted when D-Va broke up. She didn't want to hang on his coattails forever, she'd said.

And then there was Shoji. She'd started coming to his bar fairly regularly once the Lockdown ended. She had unashamedly hit on him for a while, and they had gone out for a fairly brief period as well. But as time went on, she was rather clearly losing grip with reality. Keiichi's disappearance must have affected her somehow, because not long after he disappeared, she began to spout off conspiracy theories that had little to no base in reality. Over the years she'd only gotten worse and worse, and her mind was clearly degenerating along with her ability to write. She'd been institutionalized about a year back, and no one had seen her since then.

"But me, Atsuro, Amane, and you… we're all still hanging around here. Ha… I guess we just can't let go of the past." Yuzu's breath stank with alcohol and she was already wavering in her seat. She never had been able to hold her liquor. A sob escaped her throat. "I miss him. I miss him so fucking much. I just want him to come back, but I know he won't, because I was there Gin. I was there when he died. It took him until he was fucking dying to tell me he loved me. And I still…"

She was definitely drunk. She was sobbing into her half finished drink and starting to attract the attention of the other bargoers. All of this only confirmed what Gin had been thinking. He should have known once she walked in wearing her old scarf.

"Come on Yuzu," he said softly. "You're drunk. Let me call Atsuro or Keiji to come take you home."

"I don't _want_ to go home," Yuzu sobbed out. "I want to see him again. Even if he is just a _demon_ now, I still want to see him. Is that too much to _fucking_ ask?"

Gin walked out from behind the bar and put a hand on Yuzu's shoulder. "Let's take you home, okay?"

She didn't object this time and got off of her seat. She walked with Gin to the door, her steps a bit wobbly as she went.

As they got closer, it occurred to Gin that something was very wrong. The sky was far too bright, the air too heavy. He could hear screaming as he approached the door. They stopped just outside the doorway to look up at the sky. It was a red vortex of energy glowing with an unnatural light. Gin hadn't seen this sky in ten years, not since he had helped them kill Tokyo's protectors. He and Yuzu both stared up at the sky, but Yuzu's face was very different from his own. She had a sad smile as she looked up at the sky.

"I never thought my wish would be answered like this."

* * *

The Hills Building had been a part of the Tokyo skyline for many years now. Ten years ago, a king had been crowned at its summit. Now that king had descended upon it once more. A bright flash of light heralded the arrival of two figures at the center of the roof. One was a silver haired man, his once handsome face marred by scars. He held himself with confidence, the tattered black and green haori draped over his shoulders acting much like a cape. The other was a young man with blue hair. He wore a black suit under his long black cape. The headphones on his head were almost like a crown. His ageless face held no emotion. To look at him was unsettlingly like looking at a corpse.

The comparison fit; after all, Keiichi Kimura had died ten years previous.

The blue haired man, who had taken the name of Abel after killing his host, stepped to the edge of the building. He surveyed the city he once called home, whose residents were surely panicking at the sight of the red sky. Naoya walked to Abel's side and looked down at his brother.

"Abel," he began, and Abel snapped his head up to look at Naoya with an inhuman reflex, staring up into Naoya's eyes with his penetrating corpse-like stare. "We can't afford to linger. The angels have already begun to descend. It would be to strategic importance if you turned the humans against them before this war starts."

The king remained staring at Naoya for far too long, and for a brief second, Naoya thought he was going to strike him, but then Abel broke the stare off and held a hand up. Two bolts of lightning struck next to Abel, causing two Cerberuses to appear. Without a single word to Naoya, he began to walk toward the door leading off of the roof. Naoya watched him walk away, and once his king had exited the roof, he looked up at the vortex in the sky.

It was finally happening. After so many long millennia, all those years spent preparing and going to waste, time after time, he'd finally done it. He would get the war he wished for. God would finally pay for what he'd done to him in that first life. All it had taken was the death of the one incarnation of his brother that actually had his personality. He had, once again, sacrificed his brother so he could make a point, and now this corpse animated by a grudge would carry out the war he'd wished for. A single tear rolled down Naoya's cheek.

Everything had gone according to plan.


End file.
